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NEWSPAPER LIBEL AND REGISTRATION ACT 1881

NEWSPAPER LIBEL AND REGISTRATION ACT 1881 - LONG TITLE

An Act to amend the Law of Newspaper Libel, and to provide for
the Registration of Newspaper Proprietors.{1}
[27th August 1881]
Preamble rep. by SLR 1894

NEWSPAPER LIBEL AND REGISTRATION ACT 1881 - SECT 1
Interpretation.

1. n the construction of this Act, unless there is anything in the
subject or context repugnant thereto, the several words and phrases
herein-after mentioned shall have and include the meanings following;
(that is to say,)

The word "registrar" shall mean ... in Ireland the assistant
registrar for the time being of joint stock companies for Ireland,
or such person as the Board of Trade may for the time being
authorise in that behalf.

The phrase "registry office" shall mean the principal office for the
time being of the registrar in ... Ireland, ... or such other
office as the Board of Trade may from time to time appoint.

The word "newspaper" shall mean any paper containing public news,
intelligence, or occurrences, or any remarks or observations therein
printed for sale, and published in ... Ireland periodically, or in
parts or numbers at intervals not exceeding twenty-six days between
the publication of any two such papers, parts, or numbers.

Also any paper printed in order to be dispersed, and made public
weekly or oftener, or at intervals not exceeding twenty-six days,
containing only or principally advertisements.

The word "occupation" when applied to any person shall mean his
trade or following, and if none, then his rank or usual title, as
esquire, gentleman.

The phrase "place of residence" shall include the street, square, or
place where the person to whom it refers shall reside, and the
number (if any) or other designation of the house in which he
shall so reside.

The word "proprietor" shall mean and include as well the sole
proprietor of any newspaper, as also in the case of a divided
proprietorship the persons who, as partners or otherwise, represent
and are responsible for any share or interest in the newspaper as
between themselves and the persons in like manner representing or
responsible for the other shares or interests therein, and no other
person.

S.2 rep. by 1888 c.64 s.2. S.3 rep. and replaced by 1888 c.64 s.8

NEWSPAPER LIBEL AND REGISTRATION ACT 1881 - SECT 4
Inquiry as to libel being for public benefit or being true.

4. A court of summary jurisdiction, upon the hearing of a charge
against a proprietor, publisher, or editor, or any person responsible
for the publication of a newspaper, for a libel published therein,
may receive evidence as to the publication being for the public
benefit, and as to the matters charged in the libel being true,
and as to the report being fair and accurate, and published without
malice, and as to any matter which under this or any other Act,
or otherwise, might be given in evidence by way of defence by the
person charged on his trial on indictment, and the court, if of
opinion after hearing such evidence that there is a strong or
probable presumption that the jury on the trial would acquit the
person charged, may dismiss the case.

NEWSPAPER LIBEL AND REGISTRATION ACT 1881 - SECT 5
Provision as to summary conviction for libel.

5. If a court of summary jurisdiction upon the hearing of a charge
against a proprietor, publisher, editor, or any person responsible
for the publication of a newspaper for a libel published therein is
of opinion that though the person charged is shown to have been
guilty the libel was of a trivial character, and that the offence
may be adequately punished by virtue of the powers of this section,
the court shall cause the charge to be reduced into writing and
read to the person charged, and then address a question to him to
the following effect "Do your desire to be tried by a jury or do
you consent to the case being dealt with summarily?" and, if such
person assents to the case being dealt with summarily, the court
may summarily convict him and adjudge him to pay a fine not
exceeding fifty pounds.

[Section two of the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland), 1945,
shall, so far as is consistent with the tenor thereof, apply to
every such proceeding.]

S.6 rep. by 1945 c.15 (NI) s.46 sch.4

NEWSPAPER LIBEL AND REGISTRATION ACT 1881 - SECT 7
Registration of the names of only a portion of the proprietors of
a newspaper.

7. Where, in the opinion of the Board of Trade, inconvenience would
arise or be caused in any case from the registry of the names of
all the proprietors of the newspaper (either owing to minority,
coverture, absence from the United Kingdom, minute subdivision of
shares, or other special circumstances), it shall be lawful for the
Board of Trade to authorise the registration of such newspaper in
the name or names of some one or more responsible "representative
proprietors."

NEWSPAPER LIBEL AND REGISTRATION ACT 1881 - SECT 8
Register of newspaper proprietors to be established.

8. A register of the proprietors of newspapers as defined by this
Act shall be established under the superintendence of the registrar.

NEWSPAPER LIBEL AND REGISTRATION ACT 1881 - SECT 9
Annual returns.

9. It shall be the duty of the printers and publishers for the
time being of every newspaper to make or cause to be made to the
Registry Office in the month of July in every year, a return of
the following particulars according to the Schedule A hereunto
annexed; that is to say,

(a)The title of a newspaper:

(b)The names of all the proprietors of such newspaper together with
their respective occupations, places of business (if any), and places
of residence.

NEWSPAPER LIBEL AND REGISTRATION ACT 1881 - SECT 10
Penalty for omission to make annual returns.

10. If within the further period of one month after the time
herein-before appointed for the making of any return as to any
newspaper such return be not made, then each printer and publisher
of such newspaper shall, on conviction thereof, be liable to a
penalty not exceeding twenty-five pounds, and also to be directed by
a summary order to make a return within a specified time.

NEWSPAPER LIBEL AND REGISTRATION ACT 1881 - SECT 11
Power to party to make return.

11. Any party to a transfer or transmission of or dealing with any
share of or interest in any newspaper whereby any person ceases to
be a proprietor or any new proprietor is introduced may at any
time make or cause to be made to the Registry Office a return
according to the Schedule B hereunto annexed and containing the
particulars therein set forth.

NEWSPAPER LIBEL AND REGISTRATION ACT 1881 - SECT 12
Penalty for wilful misrepresentation in or omission from return.

12. If any person shall knowingly and wilfully make or cause to be
made any return by this Act required or permitted to be made in
which shall be inserted or set forth the name of any person as a
proprietor of a newspaper who shall not be a proprietor thereof, or
in which there shall be any misrepresentation, or from which there
shall be any omission in respect of any of the particulars by this
Act required to be contained therein whereby such return shall be
misleading, or if any proprietor of a newspaper shall knowingly and
wilfully permit any such return to be made which shall be
misleading as to any of the particulars with reference to his own
name, occupation, place of business (if any), or place of residence,
then and in every such case every such offender being convicted
thereof shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding one hundred
pounds.

NEWSPAPER LIBEL AND REGISTRATION ACT 1881 - SECT 13
Registrar to enter returns in register.

13. It shall be the duty of the registrar and he is hereby
required forthwith to register every return made in conformity with
the provisions of this Act in a book to be kept for that purpose
at the Registry Office and called "the register of newspaper
proprietors," and all persons shall be at liberty to search and
inspect the said book from time to time during the hours of
business at the Registry Office, and any person may require a copy
of any entry in or an extract from the book to be certified by
the registrar or his deputy for the time being or under the
official seal of the registrar.

NEWSPAPER LIBEL AND REGISTRATION ACT 1881 - SECT 14
Fees payable for registrar's services.

14. There shall be paid in respect of the receipt and entry of
returns made in conformity with the provisions of this Act, and for
the inspection of the register of newspaper proprietors, and for
certified copies of any entry therein, and in respect of any other
services to be performed by the registrar, such fees (if any) as
the Board of Trade with the approval of the Treasury may direct
and as they shall deem requisite to defray as well the additional
expenses of the Registry Office caused by the provisions of this
Act, as also the further remunerations and salaries (if any) of the
registrar, and of any other persons employed under him in the
execution of this Act, and such fees shall be dealt with as the
Treasury may direct.

NEWSPAPER LIBEL AND REGISTRATION ACT 1881 - SECT 15
Copies of entries in and extracts from register to be evidence.

15. Every copy of an entry in or extract from the register of
newspaper proprietors, purporting to be certified by the registrar or
his deputy for the time being, or under the official seal of the
registrar, shall be received as conclusive evidence of the contents
of the said register of newspaper proprietors, so far as the same
appear in such copy or extract without proof of the signature
thereto or of the seal of office affixed thereto, and every such
certified copy or extract shall in all proceedings, civil or
criminal, be accepted as sufficient prima8 facie evidence of all the
matters and things thereby appearing, unless and until the contrary
thereof be shown.

NEWSPAPER LIBEL AND REGISTRATION ACT 1881 - SECT 16
Recovery of penalties and enforcement of orders.

16. All penalties under this Act may be recovered before a court
of summary jurisdiction in manner provided by the Summary
Jurisdiction Acts.

Summary orders under this Act may be made by a court of summary
jurisdiction, and enforced in manner provided by section thirty-four
of the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879; and, for the purposes of
this Act, that section shall be deemed to apply to Ireland in the
same manner as if it were re-enacted in this Act.

S.17 rep. by SLR 1894

NEWSPAPER LIBEL AND REGISTRATION ACT 1881 - SECT 18
Newspapers belonging to joint stock companies.

18. The provisions as to the registration of newspaper proprietors
contained in this Act shall not apply to the case of any newspaper
which belongs to a joint stock company duly incorporated under and
subject to the provisions of the Companies Acts, 1862 to 1879.

NEWSPAPER LIBEL AND REGISTRATION ACT 1881 - SECT 20
Short title.

20. This Act may for all purposes be cited as the Newspaper Libel
and Registration Act, 1881.






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URL: http://www.bailii.org/nie/legis/num_act/nlara1881323.txt