Odger's English Common Law

QUALIFIED PRIVILEGE. 533
such acts in the London Gazette, to all State papers, and to
all advice given to the Crown by its ministers or ambassadors. 1
Qualified Privilege.
Occasions of qualified privilege, i.e., privilege which can
he rebutted by proof of actual malice, may be grouped under
two heads :
—
I. Privilege arising from Duty or Interest.
II. Privileged Eeports.
Privilege arising from Duty or Interest.
The guiding principle, by which such privileged occasions
may be ascertained, has been laid down as follows ;— " A
communication made bond fide upon any subject-matter, in
which the party communicating has an interest or in reference
to which he has a duty, is privileged, if made to a person
having a corresponding interest or duty. And the word
' duty ' cannot be confined to legal duties, which may be
enforced by indictment, action or mandamus, but must
include moral and social duties of imperfect obligation." 2
Both the person making the communication and the person
receiving it must have either an interest in the subject-
matter of the communication, or some duty to discharge in
connection with it.
Let us apply this rule to special cases :
(i.) Answers to Confidential Inquiries.— " If a person who is
thinking of dealing with another in any matter of business
asks a question about his character from some one who has
means of knowledge, it is for the interests of society that the
and the answer is a privileged
question should be answered ;
communication." 3
The commonest instance of this is the " character " of a servant given
by a former master to some one with whom the servant is seeking employ-
ment. Such a communication is held privileged, because it is for the
1 DawMns v. Lord Iiokeby. supra; Grant v. Secretary of State for India ,(1877)
2 0. P. D. 445 ; Att.-Ben. of the Cape of QdoA Hope v. Van Reenen, [1904] A. 0.
114 ; and see Adam v. Ward, [1917] A. C. 309.
8 Per Lord Campbell, 0. J., in Harriton v. Buth (1855), 5 E. & B. at pp. 348,
349.
8 Per Brett, L. J., in Waller v. Loch (1881), 7 Q. B. D. at p. 622.
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