Tort Law

Defamation cases

Cassidy v Daily Mirror Newspapers Ltd [1929] 2 KB 331

Key Point

• Defamation may happen indirectly and unknowingly -  liability for libel does not depend on the intention of the defamer

Facts

• The claimant was the legal wife of an infamous race-horse owner and former General of the Mexican Army
• While seperated, her husband occasionally stayed at her flat and came into contact with her social circles
• The defendant newspaper published an article containing a photo of her husband with another woman, asserting that they were engaged (as per a statement made by the claimant’s husband when the photo was taken)
• The claimant brought an action in defamation, arguing that the article had the effect of damaging her reputation, as the statement indirectly implied to those who read it that she was an immoral woman who cohabited with her supposed husband out of marriage (seeing as he was apparently single)
• The defendants argued that, as they did not know the circumstances which caused the circles of the claimant to infer the defamatory meaning, they could not be held liable for them either