A libel case heard by Mr. Justice Charles on Tuesday
deserves, and will no doubt get, the serious attention of the Committee now sitting to propose changes in the law of libel. A young man of 24, who admitted in cross- examination that he could not pay the defendants' costs if he lost his case, sued Yohn Bull for declaring that the crew of a yacht called the ' Blonde ' (the plaintiff being one of the crew) were charged with smuggling and sen- tenced to various terms of imprisonment. Actually the plaintiff, though found guilty, was not imprisoned but bound over. The Judge made his own opinion of the case pretty clear and the jury awarded id. damages without costs. As the defendants had paid D into court, costs— which the plaintiff had already said he could not pay— were awarded to the defendants. To lay it down that no man shall bring a libel action unless he can give security for costs would be tantamount to saying that a poor man might be libelled with impunity. But some protection against actions of this type is obviously essential in the interests of justice.
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