Place, or Day, or whereon there shall be printed any Description of the Place of printing or publishing such Newspaper which shall be different in any respect from the Description of the House or Building mentioned in the Declaration required by this Act to be made relating to such Newspaper as the House or Building wherein such Newspaper is intended to be printed or published, every such Person shall for any and every such Offence forfeit the Sum of Twenty Pounds.

SCHEDULE REFERRED TO IN THIS ACT.

SCHEDULE (A).

And the following shall be deemed and taken to be Newspapers chargeable with the said Duties; viz.

Any Paper containing public News, Intelligence, or Occurrences printed in any Part of the United Kingdom to be dispersed and made public:

Also any Paper printed in any Part of the United Kingdom weekly or oftener, or at Intervals not exceeding Twenty-six Days, containing only or principally Advertisements:

And also any Paper containing any public News, Intelligence, or Occurrences, or any Remarks or Observations thereon, printed in any Part of the United Kingdom for Sale, and published periodically or in Parts or Numbers at Intervals not exceeding Twentysix Days between the Publication of any Two such Papers, Parts, or Numbers, where any of the said Papers, Parts, or Numbers respectively shall not exceed Two Sheets of the Dimensions herein-after speciefied, (exclusive of any Cover or Blank Leaf, or any other Leaf upon which any Advertisement or other Notice shall be printed,) or shall be published for Sale

for a less Sum than Sixpence, exclusive of the Duty by this Act imposed thereon: Provided always, that no Quantity of Paper less than a Quantity equal to Twentyone Inches in Length and Seventeen Inches in Breadth, in whatever Way or Form the same may be divided into Leaves, or in whatever Way the same may be printed, shall, with reference to any such Paper, Part, or Number as aforesaid, be deemed or taken to be a Sheet of Paper:

And provided also, that any of the several Papers hereinbefore described shall be liable to the Duties by this Act imposed thereon, in whatever Way or Form the same may be printed or folded, or divided into Leaves or stitched, and whether the same shall be folded, divided, or stitched, or not.

16

Bijlage C.

ANNO SEXTO & SEPTIMO

VICTORIA REGINÆ.

CAP. XCVI.

An Act to amend the Law respecting defamatory Words and Libel.

[24th August 1843].

For the better Protection of private Character, and for more effectually securing the Liberty of the Press, and for better preventing Abuses in exercising the said Liberty: Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by Offer of an the Authority of the same, That in any Action for DefamaApology admissible in Evidence tion it shall be lawful for the Defendant (after Notice in in mitigation of Damages. Writing of his Intention so to do, duly given to the Plaintiff at the Time of filing or delivering the Plea in such Action,) to give in Evidence, in mitigation of Damages, that he made or offered an Apology to the Plaintiff for such Defamation before the Commencement of the Action, or as soon afterwards as he had an Opportunity of doing so, in case the Action shall have been commenced before there was an Opportunity of making or offering such Apology.

In an Action

II.

And be it enacted, That in an Action for a Libel against a News- contained in any public Newspaper or other periodical Publication it shall be competent to the Defendant to plead

paper for Libel, the Defendant

it was inserted

withoud Malice and without Neglect, and may pay Money into

Court as Amends.

that such Libel was inserted in such Newspaper or other may plead that periodical Publication without actual Malice, and without gross Negligence, and that before the Commencement of the Action, or at the earliest Opportunity afterwards, he inserted in such Newspaper or other periodical Publication a full Apology for the said Libel, or, if the Newspaper or periodical Publication in which the said Libel appeared should be ordinarily published at Intervals exceeding One Week, had offered to publish the said Apology in any Newspaper or periodical Publication to be selected by the Plaintiff in such Action; and that every such Defendant shall upon filing such Plea be at liberty to pay into Court a Sum of Money by way of Amends for the Injury sustained by the Publication of such Libel, and such Payment into Court shall be of the same Effect and be available in the same Manner and to the same Extent, and be subject to the same Rules and Regulations as to Payment of Costs and the Form of Pleading, except so far as regards the pleading of the additional Facts herein-before required to be pleaded by such Defendant, if Actions for Libel had not been excepted from the personal Actions in which it is lawful to pay Money into Court under an Act passed in the Session of Parliament held in the Fourth Year of His late Majesty, intituled An Act for the further 3 & 4 W. 4. c. 42. Amendment of the Law and the better Advancement of Justice;

as

and that to such Plea to such Action it shall be competent to the Plaintiff to reply generally, denying the whole of such Plea.

III. And be enacted, That if any Person shall publish or threaten to publish any Libel upon any other Person, or shall directly or indirectly threaten to print or publish, or shall directly or indirectly propose to abstain from printing or publishing, or shall directly or indirectly offer to prevent the printing or publishing, of any Matter or Thing touching any other Person, with Intent to extort any Money or Security for Money, or any valuable Thing from such or any other Peror with Intent to induce any Person to confer or procure for any Person any Appointment or Office of Profit or Trust, every such Offender, on being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be imprisoned, with or without Hard Labour, in the Common Gaol or House of Correction, for any Term not

son,

False defamatory

Libel punishable

and Fine;

exceeding Three Years: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall in any Manner alter or affect any Law now in force in respect of the sending or Delivery of threatening Letters or Writings.

IV. And be it enacted, That if any Person shall maliby Imprisonment ciously publish any defamatory Libel knowing the same to be false, every such Person, being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be imprisoned in the Common Gaol or House of Correction for any Term not exceeding Two Years, and to pay such Fine as the Court shall award.

Malicious defa

Imprisonment or
Fine.

V. And be it enacted, That if any Person shall maliciously matory Libel, by publish any defamatory Libel, every such Person, being convicted thereof, shall be liable to Fine or Imprisonment or both, as the Court may award, such Imprisonment not to exceed the Term of One Year.

Proceedings upon the Trial of an Indictment or

a defamatory Libel.

VI. And be it enacted, That on the Trial of any Indictment or Information for a defamatory Libel, the Defendant Information for having pleaded such Plea as herein-after mentioned, the Truth of the Matters charged may be inquired into, but shall not amount to a Defence, unless it was for the Public Benefit that the said Matters charged should be published; and that to entitle the Defendant to give Evidence of the Truth of such Matters charged as a Defence to such Indictment or Information it shall be necessary for the Defendant, in pleading to the said Indictment or Information, to allege the Truth of the said Matters charged in the Manner now required in pleading a Justification to an Action for Defamation, and further to allege that it was for the Public Benefit that the said Matters charged should be published, and the particular Fact or Facts by reason whereof it was for the Public Benefit that the said Matters charged should be published, to which Plea the Prosecutor shall be at liberty to reply generally, denying the whole thereof; and that if after such Plea the Defendant shall be convicted on such Indictment or Information it shall be competent to the Court, in pronouncing Sentence, to consider whether the Guilt of the Defendant is aggravated or mitigated by the said Plea, and by the Evidence given to prove or to disprove the same: Provided always, that the Truth of the Matters charged in the alleged Libel