Star.
London, England, 1818-10-10 00:00:00

SCOTCH JURY COURT.

GLASGOW, OCTOBER S. •
. CASE OW 1.113EL.-13500 DAMAGES.
This .clay the Court was opened by Lord GILLIBS.
The cause to be brought before the Court having
excited a great deal of interest, the Hall was ex-
.reinely crowded. The following. issue in the cause
.n which Thomas Stewart, of Glasgowfield, is Pur-
suer ; and Thomas Allan, Banker in Edinburgh, and
Alexander M.Kay, of Belfast, are Defenders, was
submitted to the Jery
" Whether a paragraph inserted on the '2Bth of January,
1817, in a certain Newspaper published and circulated in the
city of Glasgow, Or elsewhere, called the Belfast New,letter, of
' which the defenders are the proprietors, and which paragraph is
hereunto annexed, and particularly set forth and referred to in.
the summons, is of and concerning the pursuer; and whether
the description Mr. S. and Mr. S. of Glasgow, In said paragraph
was eseant and understood to apply to the pursuer; and whe-
ther the said paragraph was or is injurious to the character,
credit or reputation of said pursuer ?'

The damages were laid at 1.:5000.
Mr.JEFFRAV opened the case for the pursuer, and
said that he appeared for the purpose of obtaining
reparation at the hands of the Jury for A grievous
injury inflicted on the fee:ings and reputation of Mr.
Stewart. The passage which contained the libel was
headed by the words " I leinous Fraud," in capitals,
and was inserted at the bottom of the issue. Without
such a commentary the malignity of the libel was
sufficiently obvious, The libel published was as
follows:

" TIFINOUS FRAUD.
" A linguist discovery kb reported to have been recently made
ir. Glasgow. A servant man, who had lived fur many years iu
the family of a Mr. S. of that city, beard a report a long time
ago that a near relation of his had died in the Llsgt Indies, and
left a tonsiderable fortune to him, He made various Inquiries
to ascertain the fact, but without success. Among others he
applied to his master, requesting that be would endeavour to bb-
t.• the information wanted. The master promised to do so,.
but, after a long delay, and various evasions, he at last told the
servant that all his exertions had been fruitless, and that there,
seemed to be no truth in the report. Here the matter rested for
a considerable time. Some Months ago, however, the servant
hVpening to be in company *Oa a methodist 'minister, men-
tioned the circumstance to him. The latter undertook to write
to a friend in London to inquire respecting the affair. He ac-
cordingly did so, and in a few days received an answer, ac-
,quainting him that the gentleman about whom he Inquired had
died in India many years ago ; and that it was fully 'lateen years
since the money he left, about 21),0001. had been paid over to
Mr. S. of Glasgow, in behalf of g relation of the deceased, ytho
then lived in his family. Upon receipt of this intelligence pro-
per steps were immediately taken to bring the master to account ;
but we are sorry to add, that nut report states there is little pro-
bability of much of the money being recovered, as be bad given
a considerable dowry to a daughter, and lived expensively. The
necessary steps of law are bottever in progress."
Newspapers, although not the most respectable ve-
hicles, had hitherto, in this part of the kingdom, been
conducted so far within the bounds of decency that this
was the first case of a libel so atrocious. When it is ad-
mitted by the defenders that the libel is in itself a false-
hood, and that they are the proprietors of the Belfast
Newsletter, little remains to be done by the Counsel on
the part of the pursuer. With respect to the injury
which such a publication was calculated to do to the
character of the pursuer it might be observed that,
telling that a man who was a gentleman aiul a dealer,
was a rascal and a swindler, is as injurious to his
character as a pistol discharged at the head of any
man would be to his health and person. Mr. Jeffray
then went over the history of the case. lie stated,
that the present publication was not the first form in
which ,the calumny had appeared. It had previously
been set forth in an application to the Magistrates for
an exhibition of all his papers, when the absurd Ale-
, gation fell to the ground, in consequence of the oath
I of Mr. Stewart,. The character of a dealer, Mr. Jef-
I fray observed, was like that of a woman ; to circulate
a libel of the description which was contained in the
Belfast Newsletter, in the Coffee-room, and among
the Merchants of Glasgow, who have much eennec-
lion with Belfast, was like throwing a firebrand into
a pile of combustible matter. The day in which the
paper arrived in Glasgow it was so much read and
thumbed that it was reduced to tinder, and was more
read in one day than a pious old woman's bible is at
the end of her life time. The libel originated with a
person whose name is concealed, and the defenders
evaded giving him up. and therefore they from choice
alone were defenders iu the present action. The libel
was evidently of Glasgow origin. They refused to
give up the manuscript; and at first they disputed
the jurisdiction of the Court of Session, but finally
they withdrew this objection, and submitted to the
cognizance of the Scotish Court. Allen, the banker
in Edinburgh, and M‘Kay, the printer, are only no-
minally the defenders. There is no doubt a person
behind them, and that person is no doubt able to stand
the issue of this action ; and that he will most willingly
pay any sum rather than have his name expos.'d as
being the author of this atrocious libel. Under these
circumstances he confidently expected the Jury /o
award the whole amount of the damages asked ; for
the respectable ptoprietors of the Bellitst News-letter
are standing the brunt of a wealthy person. By I Jolt's
Report, vol. i. 6'21, in the case of Counsellor Scariest,
tried at Nisi l'rius, it will be found, that if An advo-
cate in his place utter slanderous matter not pertinent
to his case, he subjects himself to an action; and
therefore the defenders cannot put up the defence that
they only published the proceedings of a Court of
Law. It was an es park statement, containing the
accusation, and not the exculpation. The Members
of the Legislature dare not report their own speeches
if they cdnta:n libellous matter, although the privi-
lege allows them to utter any thing they choose with-
; in the House. Lord Abingdon and Mr. Creevey have
both been convicted of having published their speeches.
The law is unequivocal on this point. The law in
Scotland is still moreunfavourable to publication. The
present libel does not bear to be a law teport. It is
not the language of a law reporter. It is the " distil-
. lei, purified, rectified" production of the writer,
. and is quite original, having none of the features ofj
a law report. It is no plea in the present case to say '
• that they have only repeated a current calumny. In
considering a case of this kind, the person injured
has a right to expect remuneration according to the
I injury he sustains, without taking into consideration
the amount of guilt on the part of the person injuring.
Therefore, if the defenders have done the pursuer an
.• injury he is entitled to damages although they may
not be the original propagators of the calumny.—
Slanderous words cannot even be justified on the re-
-1 port of another unless the name of the calumniator is
given at the time the slander is verbally tutored ; and
the slander to prixt.ut action must be repeati,:d iii die

words identically. Such is held to be the Taw of
England.
The publicatipn in the Belfast Newsletter was ad-
mitted.; as also an extract from the process, the absol-
viter.sentence in the case.before the Magistrates of
Glasgow.; and a letter. from Messrs, King and Camp-
ben fu the Editor of the Belfast Newsletter, in which
they called on him to give up the author.
Thomas am keeper of the Coffee-room.
We received and file the Newsletter. The Number
which contained the libel was very much in request.
The people when asking for the paper, I understood
wanted to read the paragraph.
. Colin Camp/m.11.-1 read the, paragraph in the Coffee-
room, and applied it to Mi. Stewart of the Glasgow-
field, having heard the report a day or two before.
Robert Carrick.—l am a partner in the Ship Bank.
Mr. Stewart had discounted bills in our bank for a
considerable length of time: He was in very good
credit, until January, 1817. Some person told me
of his having interfered in money which had come
from the East Indies. I was told of this a few days
perhaps a week, before I saw the paragraph in the
newspaper. I spoke to Mr. S. and advised him, be-
fore it was published in the paper, to endeavour to ,
Lind out who had set foi th the report. On seeing it
in the Newspaper I told Mr. Stewart, as he said it was
a malicious falsehood, that he ought immediately to
vindicate his character. I said to him it was a stroke
to his credit, and advised him, in the mean time to
clear his character, and to lessen his business. He did
not do so much business with me after this.
Michael Rott,and.—l am cashier and partr6r in the
Ship Bank. I heard that in a Belfast paper a para-
graph had appeared against Mr. S. 1 told him that
until he cleared himself we could not do much more
business.

Robert Scott ,—I am a partner in the Thistle Bank.
I heard of the paragraph at the time it was published,
and understood that it alluded to Mr. Stewart, Same
day I was told that he had been imprisoned ; and
Went to the jail for the purpose of bailing him out,
and found him not there, I did not believe it to be
true. Mr. Stewart did not do business at our Bank.
If I had not known Mr. Stewart well, the story would
have hurt his credit with me. I have no doubt it hurt
his credit with people who did not know him well.
John Brown.—l stay in the parish of Carluke, and
heard of the report in the country a day or two after
it had arrived. I kne‘y Mr. Stewart, and 1 had placed
£2OO or £3OO in his hands. I lifted it in consequence
of the paragraph. Mr. Stewart said it was false. I
was not told that there was a process.
I live in the parish of Carnwath. In Ja-
nuary, 1817, we heard that Mr. Stewart was broken,
by giving his daughter a tocher ; and he had kept up
some money ; and that it was advertised in the news-
papers. The carriers brought the word from Glas-
gow. The story was believed at the time, and is
to this day in that part of the country. It was also
said that he had shot hiMself. Some men who had
lodged money in Mr. Stewart's hands were afraid of
it, as he was considered to be in low water. I was
once grieve with Mr. Stewart, and he has property in
Carnwath parish.
James Jentins.—lam a coal-merchant in Glasgow,
I heard of the paragraph, and called on him for £6O
which he had of mine; and I put oil as long as I
could. I did not like to go abruptly to Mr. btewart.
The story made me go,
Here an admission on the part of the defenders, in
which the defenders were acknowledged to be the
proprietors of the Belfast Newsletter, and that it was
circulated in Glasgow, was put in and read.
Mr. MONCRIEFF, for the defenderi, began by ob-
serving the Jury by this time would have made some
abatements tiom the exaggerated statement of the
I pursuer's Counsel. Mr. Alan is a Gentleman, mei-
dent in Edinburgh ; but at the time the paragraph
was published he had been abroad six months for the
benefit of the health of his wife who was unwell, and
who died in Italy. lie therefore knew nothing of
the publication. Mr.. is is a native of Scotland,
and has been in the management of a Newspaper for
30 years, and this is the first time he has ever been
charged with injuring the fortune or the feelings of
any person. Mi. Allan and Mr. M'Kay are joint
proprietors of the Belfast Actusletter. With respect
to the process it is worthy of notice that on the 26th
of November, 1816, an application was made to the
Magistrates of Glasgow. The application in sub-
stance stated that an old man having died in the East
Indies, the heir of said man employed Mr. Stewart
to recover a large sum of money, which he obtained,
and still held in his hands. A power of attorney or
something similar was granted to Mr. Stewart to
enable him to get possession of said money. It had
been said that the defenders had refused to give up
the author of the paragraph : but the tact was, that
a person of the flame of Kilbee had furnished the in-'
formation; and the pursuer was told so. This piece
of news had been inserted by Mr. M'Kay in the rots-
tine cf business, without him even knowing who was
alluded to under the initial S. From the par/
graph
itself no man could know to whom it alluded. t was
only from extrinsic information of the process that
any person could know to whom it referred. When
the name of the author was applied for by return of
post, Mr. M'Kay expressed his regret, and stated that
it was inserted in the hurry of business. Ile also
stated that in the very fire publication, tie first op-
portunity in his power, he had published a pointed
contradiction of the paragraph. This ample refuta-
tion he published without being solicited to do so,
and this contradiction said that the paragraph was
false and groundless. Ile did so widiout being asked,
on the simple word of Mr. Stewart or his *agent. He
did not know to whom the paragraph alluded. The
pursuer was not so anxious to think to get the state-
ment contradicted as to get a large profit from the
defenders. Five days befuie the action was com-
menced, ?Ir. Robertson, agent for the defenders
' wrote a letter to the pursuer, in which they expressed
their willingness to give up the author. The author's
name was given up, and every compensation was
offered ehich it was in the power of Mr. M'Kay to
offer. When Mr. Allan returned from Italy we were
authorised to give every facility for careybig on the
action which the defenders could wish, and to with-
draw the objection to the jgrisdictioa of the Court of
SesSion. Itefore the pursuer can ask solarium he
must prove animus injuriandi malice on the part of
the defenders. I need not say one word on the im-
; propriety of attempting to circumscribe the liberty of
I the newspaper press. On the one hand not to limit
.1 the powers of the press in publishing what miles