Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-02-19
VOICES OF THE PRESS.
A New Libel Law Wanted.
(Aroostook Republican).

In the days of Charles I. of England,
when kings, lords, dukes, etc., were
the absolute dictators of their SUBJ
jects, when their imperialistic person.
ages were supposed to do no wrong,
when their wish was the will of those
under them. a libel law was framed
to meet the exigenoies which might
possibly arise, for there were in those
days some people who had ideas of
their own and who believed that
royalty, being human, was liable at
times to do wrong. And there was
a chance that these people might
speak out. air their ideas and thus
plant the leaven of discomfort, which
might prejudice the whole populace.
This law to prohibit criticism of an,
nature whatever, whether Just or
unjust, deserved or undeserved, was
put in vogue to protect their royal
selves. and thus were they shielded
from all possible chance of public
censure.
The libel law of Maine as it stands
today is an outgrowth of this
ancient custom of England-an in
heritance handed down through the
centuries with but slight modifica-
tions. Other states in the Union
have had this same law which was
conceived in tyrannical times, but
have relegated it as inconsistent and
incompatible with a true democratic
form of government.
The law as it now stands on the
statute books seems to be particular
ly aimed at newspaper publishers;
with the vindictiveness born of the
thought that newspapers are a detri-
ment to a state, it has singled them
out as a mark at which to hurl it's
darts of malevolence. For in law it
has been held that to write and
publish maliciously anything con-
corning another which makes him
ridiculous or holds him out as a dis
honest man, is actionable and pun
ishable criminally, when the speaking
of the same words would not be So"
Such Determinations against news
papers is as unjust as it is unreason-
able. Such excrescences tackled on to
the statutes of an enlightened and
civilized commonwealth like the
grand old Pine Tree State, are good
subjects for the pruning knife of
modern lawmakers. Even England,
where such unjust laws found birth,
has remodeled and changed them
along the lines of reason and truth,
and in conformity with justice. The
old saw. 1.-THE greater the truth the
greater the libel" has been supplant-
ed by more modern ideas and a more
equitable Interpretation of right and
justice. Some of our own states have
also framed fairer laws, placing the
publisher on an equal footing with
other callings as far as the charge of
libel is concerned. EAT
In Maine, however, under existing
laws. when once an article is pub
lished, malice is at once presumed.
The defendant is debarred from even
showing his primary and real mo-
tiyes. His articles loom up as gigan-
tic and powerful witnesses against
him.
Under existing conditions, the
burglar, the ineendiary, the thief and
the assassin stand on better footing
in our courts of justice than does a
publisher charged with libel, for the
law presumes them innocent until
their guilt is clearly established by
thC piCPoliuCi dHNC VI CNlucllCe. lie
publisher is presumed to be guilty,
and upon him alone, of all the men
in our State, is placed the burden of
establishing his innocence by a pre-
ponderance of the evidence"
A bill somewhat similar to that
existing IN Massachusetts has been
introduced into the Legislature re-
lating to libel-a modern, yet conser-
vative. statute. which is to take the
place of that unfair law devised by
English judicial sycophants ap-
pointed by the king and removable
at his royal will and intended to pro-
tect the absolute power which gave
them bread" in order to protect
themselves when they dreaded the
truth spoken about their courts or
deeds.
In asking that the bill which has
been introduced this winter become a
law, newspapers ask nothing I'M
reasonable by which they may be
shown favoritism over anyone else
They merely ask that the libel law
now in existence in Massachusetts,
and which has given entire satisfac-
ton. become the law of Maine