Book Condition: Very God with age related tanning to Page Edges, single closed tear to back cover. som erubbing and marks on cover at back, otherwise clean, clear text in tightly bound volume. Hatred, Ridicule or Contempt: A Book of Libel Cases. By Joseph Dean. [London: Pan Books Ltd. 1955. 251 pp. As the subtitle says, this is a collection of libel cases, compiled to show the different aspects of English libel law and because they're interesting in their own right. The book does show the absurdities that can arise out of the libel laws. One of which was the case of Artemus Jones. In July 1908 the Sunday Chronicle published an article about the Dieppe Motor Week, which fatured a madeup character with the name of Artemus Jones. Unfortunately, unknown to the author of the article, there was a real life Artemus Jones who promptly sued the publication for libel. This despite the fact that the real Artemus was nothing like the person portrayed in the article and despite the fact that the author indeed didn't even know Artemus existed. One would think Artemus' case stood little cance, but unfortunately the judge was annoyed with the article's levity and this influenced his decision. Artemus won, the defendants appealed, but lost in appeal as well. Which led to a series of worse and worse libel trials in which various newspapers were sued for defaming persons they neither knew existed nor intended to refer to... This book is clear and lucid, with an understated sense of humour. A good selection of interesting cases too. Recommended.
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