§ 19. Mr. Gallacherasked the Attorney-General if he is aware of the feeling that exists in favour of the overhaul of the libel laws; and what steps does he propose to take in this connection.
§ The Solicitor-GeneralI would refer my hon. Friend to the Committee appointed by the Lord Chancellor on 8th March, 1939, with the following terms of reference:
To consider the law of defamation and to report what changes in the existing law, practice, and procedure relating to the matter are desirable.This Committee, which is presided over by Lord Porter held a series of sittings in the early summer of 1939, but its deliberations had to be suspended during the war. The Committee resumed its sittings in May of this year, but have not yet reported.
§ Mr. GallacherWill the Solicitor-General consider speeding up the work of this Committee, in view of the recent case where a journalist was very heavily penalised for reporting the statement of a Cabinet Minister, while a questionable character, according to the Cabinet Minister, got a certificate of patriotism, a very undesirable state of affairs as far as the law is concerned?