It Pays to be Libeled in London

Under Britain’s tax structure, one thing which still pays off is a successful libel case, as E. Waugh, R. Churchill and A. Bevan have found. A year or so ago the columnist for the London Daily Mirror, “Cassandra,” wrote with reference to Liberace’s opening in a local night club, that he was “the biggest sentimental vomit of all time… the summit of sex, the pinnacle of masculine, feminine and neuter-everything that he, she and it could want.” Those words, a British court held last month, libeled Liberace, and Cassandra and the Daily Mirror were ordered to pay $22,400 damages. It is doubtful that Liberace could have got such swift or conclusive satisfaction in America, where the libel laws appear to be comparatively lenient, and prosecution comparatively cumbersome and costly.

Since thoughtful libel legislation is a necessary complement to freedom of speech, National Reviewplans a long look at existing laws and customs. By way of background, we have from British journalist Alistair Horne, author of Back Into Power and The Land Is Bright, a descriptive summary of the libel situation in England.

AH

About the Author

Alistair Horne

Sir Alistair Horne’s Kissinger: 1973, The Crucial Year is published by Simon & Schuster.

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Under Britain’s tax structure, one thing which still pays off is a successful libel case, as E. Waugh, R. Churchill and A. Bevan have found. A year or so ago the columnist for the London Daily Mirror, “Cassandra,” wrote with reference to Liberace’s opening in a local night club, that he was “the biggest sentimental vomit of all time… the summit of sex, the pinnacle of masculine, feminine and neuter-everything that he, she and it could want.” Those words, a British court held last month, libeled Liberace, and Cassandra and the Daily Mirror were ordered to pay $22,400 damages. It is doubtful that Liberace could have got such swift or conclusive satisfaction in America, where the libel laws appear to be comparatively lenient, and prosecution comparatively cumbersome and costly.

Since thoughtful libel legislation is a necessary complement to freedom of speech, National Reviewplans a long look at existing laws and customs. By way of background, we have from British journalist Alistair Horne, author of Back Into Power and The Land Is Bright, a descriptive summary of the libel situation in England.