REGISTRATION ACT, 1881. WITH A STATEMENT OF THE LAW OF LIBEL AS AFFECTING PROPRIETORS, PUBLISHERS, AND EDITORS OF NEWSPAPERS. BY GEORGE ELLIOTT, BARRISTER-AT-LAW, OF THE INNER TEMPLE, AND SOUTH-EASTERN CIRCUIT. PREFACE. UPON the general law of Libel several important and valuable works have been written. Of these, the treatises by Messrs. Starkie, Folkard, and Blake Odgers deserve particular mention. The object of this book is not to add another to the list of those already written on the law relating to libels generally, but to point out how the law has been modified for the protection of persons engaged in the publication of newspapers, by the Newspaper Libel and Registration Act of 1881. Few Acts of Parliament are so clear and explicit as not to need a commentary of some kind, and a knowledge of the law as it existed prior to the passing of any particular Act must obviously facilitate the interpretation of the same. The author has written this work, therefore, with the desire to provide persons who have made no previous study of the subject, with a short and simple handbook which will afford an elementary knowledge of the general principles of the law, and explain in detail the provisions of the above-mentioned statute. He trusts that as illustrating the law of newspaper libel his book may be found useful by the profession, the press, and the public. The author desires most gratefully to acknowledge the kind assistance he has received from his learned friend, Mr. Edwin Layman, of the Middle Temple and South-Eastern Circuit. G. E. 5, ESSEX COURT, THE TEMPLE, May, 1884. |