values dependent on Lives, Reversions, &c. By Rolla Rouse, Esq., Barrister. Tenth Edition. Oblong 12mo., 9s. cloth. Seton-Forms of Decrees in Equity, &c., with Practical Notes. Third Edition. By W. H. Harrison and R. H. Leach, Esquires, Barristers. 2 vols. Vol. II., royal 8vo., 30s. cloth; Vol. II., part 2, royal 8vo., 14s. cloth. Shelford-The Law of Joint-Stock Companies; containing the Companies Act, 1862, and the Acts incorporated therewith. With copious Notes of cases relative to Joint-Stock Companies, the Rules and Forms of the Court of Chancery in proceedings under the above Act, and Forms and Articles of Association. By L. Shelford, Esq., Barrister. 12mo., 15s. cloth. Simmons-Remarks on the Constitution and Practice of Courts Martial; with a Summary of the Law of Evidence as connected therewith, and some notice of the Criminal Law of England with reference to the Trial of Civil Offences. By Captain T. T. Simmons, R.A. Fifth Edition. 8vo., 14s. cloth. Smith-An Elementary View of the Practice of Conveyancing in Solicitors' Offices; with an Outline of the Proceedings under the Transfer of Land and Declaration of Title Acts, 1862. For the use of Articled Clerks. By E. Smith, Solicitor. Post 8vo., 6s. cloth. St. Leonards-A Handy Book on Property Law, in a Series of Letters. Seventh Edition. Re-issued with a Portrait of the Author, and the addition of a Letter on the New Laws for obtaining an Indefeasible Title. By Lord St. Leonards. 12mo., 3s. 6d. cloth. Stephen-Questions for Law Students on the Fifth Edition of Mr. Serjeant Stephen's Commentaries on the Laws of England. By T. Stephen, Esq., Barrister. 8vo., 10s. 6d., cloth. Stone-The Practice of Petty Sessions; with the Statutes, a List of Summary Convictions, and an Appendix of Forms. Seventh Edition. By T. Bell and L. W. Cave, Esquires, Barristers. With a Supplement, containing the Statutes and Decisions to 1863. By L. W. Cave, Esq. 12mo., 18s. cloth. Supplement, separately, 3s. sewed. Urlin and Key-The Transfer of Land and Declaration of Title Acts, 1862. Illustrated by the Practice and Decisions under the Analogous Irish Acts; with Notes, General Orders, Forms, &c. By R. D. Urlin and T. Key, Esquires, Barristers. 12mo., 10s. cloth. Wheaton-Elements of International Law. Second Annotated Edition. By W. B. Lawrence: Royal 8vo., 31s. 6d. cloth. Woodfall-Law of Landlord and Tenant. Eighth Edition. By W. R. Cole, Esq., Barrister. Royal 8vo., 35s. cloth. EMILY FAITHFULL, Printer and Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty, THE Law Magazine and Law Review: OR QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF JURISPRUDENCE. No. XXX. ART. I.-THE LAW OF LIBEL, AS APPLIED TO PUBLIC DISCUSSION. Foster and Finlason's Reports. Vol. II., containing Turnbull versus Bird; and Paris versus Levy. Vol. III., Part 3, containing Campbell versus Spottiswoode. PUBLIC opinion is the very life-blood of a free State; and it exists and circulates by freedom of discussion. The free expression of opinion is, in fact, the very soul of freedom; it is that which is the essential distinction of a free country; its presence is liberty, its absence is slavery; the want of it produces the stagnation of mind, and prostration of thought,. which mark the moral death of a nation, and are the sure forerunners or the worst results of tyranny. On the other hand, freedom of discussion, as it is a well-spring of life to a nation, is at once the essence of the first blessing, freedom; so it is at once the source and the security of every other. It is by means of this that all the institutions of a free country are brought and kept in harmony with public opinion. This harmony is, in a free country, of the first necessity. Thus Burke declared the true end of the Legislature to be to follow the general sense of the community (Works, vol. i. p. 216). VOL. XV.—NO. XXX. To effect this harmony, in a political sense, is the object of representative institutions and a free Parliament. To effect it as regards the administration of justice, is the object of trial by jury. It is the object, indeed, of all our popular institutions, but, above all, by freedom of discussion and the force of public opinion. There are two great means or forms of the expres sion of opinion; it may be by oral addresses or by public writings. Before the invention of printing, it was, of course, only in the former, and it was in the face of public assemblies that the right of free discussion was asserted-a noisy and exciting form of its exercise, not favourable to calm consideration, appealing rather to the feeling than the intellect, and apt to lead, in fact, to displays of physical rather than to intellectual force. Moreover, after all, public speaking is but a laborious and limited means for the diffusion of ideas through a whole nation, and no wonder that when their circulation was confined thereto they travelled somewhat slowly. Printing infinitely enlarged the field for the diffusion of ideas and extended the area of public discussion. The invention of printing, of course, threw the expression of public opinion into the peaceful form of an appeal to intelligence and public opinion. The three centuries which have elapsed since that great event might, perhaps, be divided into the age of the book, of the pamphlet, and of the newspaper. The comparatively cumbrous form of the book prevailed in the 16th century; the lighter pamphlet succeeded in the 17th; the newspaper the last and greatest development of divided intelligence was the product of the 18th century. The result of its rise was an immediate increase in the publication of books. Mr. Buckle observes that in England the marked increase in the number of books took place during the latter part of the 18th century, and particularly after 1756. He adds, that between 1753 and 1792 the circulation of newspapers more than doubled (History of Civilization, vol. i. p. 399, note 239). matters has fallen Since that era the discussion of public to the newspaper press (including all periodical journalism), whose very object and vocation is the expression of public opinion on public men, and public measures, and public matters in general. The gifted author of the History of Civilization ascribes all improvements and the abolition of all abuses to the progress of public opinion by the influence of the press. Statesmen, he says, are only the creatures of the age, not its creators. "These measures are the results of social progress, not the cause of it." "No great political improvement, no great reform, either legislative or executive, has ever been originated in any country by its rulers. The first suggesters of such steps have invariably been bold and able thinkers, who have discerned the abuse, denounced it, and pointed out how it is to be remedied."-Hist. Civiliz., vol. i. p. 28. To denounce public vices or abuses without denouncing those who practise them, uphold them, or profit by them, and have an interest in maintaining them, is practically impossible, and there is a natural and intimate association between the conduct and the character of public men, often an equally close connection between their action and opinion. Hence it is, that from the first rise of the newspaper press, to which has gradually and naturally fallen the expression of public opinion, it has been in the habit of assailing public Mr. Buckle in his History of Civilization mentions it as an indication of the rising independence of the press that in 1762 (just a century ago) "we find the first instance of a popular writer attacking public men by name." And then began what he calls the "feud' between literature and rank,” which, he says, "we continued to this day," (Vol. i. p. 397) but as to which we say nothing. men. So far from persons and their actions being excluded from the scope of free discussion, Burke actually adduces, as a bad trait in the character of bad citizens, an indifference to the merits or demerits of public men. "They see," he says, "no merit in the good, and no fault in the vicious management of public affairs. They see no merit or demerit in any man, or any action, or any political principle." (Reflections on French Revolution.) Here this great writer and great teacher of political wisdom connects together public men, their principles, their actions, as equally fit subjects of public discussion; for he denounces as evil, and as a mark of bad citizen, an indifference or disregard thereto. And in another part of the same immortal work he explains with philosophical acumen the rationale of such restraints on public men, or on the people themselves, as law and public opinion each in their respective spheres supply. He says: "Society requires not only that the passions of individuals should be subjected, but that even in the mass and body, as well as in the individuals, the inclinations of men should be frequently thwarted, their will controlled, and their passions brought into subjection. This can only be done by a power out of themselves, and not, in the exercise of its functions, subject to that will, and to those passions which it is its office to bridle and to restrain."-Ibid. In its highest human sense this, of course, refers to law: but then, as all lawyers know, the province of law is comparatively restricted: and there is a vast field of public action in which the law is powerless, and the only restraint is public opinion. of And in the same spirit Burke rather encourages the denunciation of false pretexts of right under which all wrongs are committed, rather than the general abuse of the institutions under cover and under colour of which they are perpetrated. "History," he says, "consists for the most part the miseries brought upon the world by pride, hypocrisy, ungoverned zeal, which shake the public with their troublous storms. These vices are the causes of those storms. Religion, morals, laws, privileges, rights of men, are the pretexts. The pretexts are always found in some specious appearances of real good. You would not secure men by rooting out of the mind the principles to which these |