Odger's English Common Law

MALICE. 537
meeting bond fide and lawfully held for a lawful purpose
and for the furtherance or discussion of any matter of public
concern, whether the admission thereto be general or
restricted."
It will be observed that the privilege conferred by this
section is confined to reports "published in a newspaper ; " *
all reports not "published in a newspaper" remain unprivi-
leged. And the section still leaves it the duty of the
editor to edit all reports of public meetings, and excise any
matter that is "not of public concern, and the publication
of which is not for the public benefit." 2
Malice.
The defence that. the occasion of publication was one of
qualified privilege may be rebutted by proof of actual malice
in the defendant. Directly the judge rules that the occasion
is privileged, the plaintiff must prove malice, or fail in his
action. If, however, the judge rules that the occasion is not
privileged, it is immaterial, except perhaps as to damages,
whether the defendant acted maliciously or not.
" Malice does not mean malice in law, a term in pleading, but actual
malice, ... a wrong feeling in a man's mind. The defendant is not
entitled to protection if he uses the occasion for some indirect and wrong
motive. ... If a man is proved to have stated that which he knew to
be false, no one need inquire further. ... So if it be proved that out of
anger or for some other wrong motive the defendant has stated as true
that which he does not know to be true, and he has stated it whether it is
true or not, recklessly, by reason of his anger or other motive, the jury
may infer that he used the occasion, not for the reason which justifies it,
but for the gratification of his anger or other indirect motive." 3
The existence of malice may be satisfactorily established
in a great variety of ways. Thus proof that the defendant
had previously libelled the plaintiff would be evidence to
show that the defendant was actuated by malice in the par-
ticular publication complained of, and that it did not
take place through carelessness or inadvertence. Again,
1 The precise meaning of the word " newspaper " is defined by s. 1 of the News-
paper Libel and Registration Act, 1881 (44 & 45 Vict. c. 60, s. 2).
2 See Kelly v. O'Malley (1889), C Times L. R. 62 ; and Chaloner v. Lansdoum
and Smm (1894), 10 Times L. R. 290.
8 Per Brett, L. J., in Clark v. Molyneua (1877), 3 Q. B. D. at pp. 246, 247.