COMMITTEE ON THE LAW OF DEFAMATION

HL Deb 25 October 1948 vol 158 c329WA

LORD AMWELL

asked His Majesty's Government when it is expected that the Report of the Committee on the Law of Defamation will be published and what are the reasons for the long delay, seeing that this body was set up ten years ago.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR (VISCOUNT JOWITT)

The Report of the Committee on the Law of Defamation is now at the printers and will be published as soon as possible. Although the Committee was set up on March 8, 1939, it was found impracticable for it to continue its work during the war and it did not resume its meetings until May, 1945. The time taken by the Committee in presenting its Report is attributable partly to the technical nature of the subject andpartly to the difficulty of convening meetings of the members, who are all very busy people; that difficulty was increased by illness and absence of members abroad.