LEGAL DEPT
JTU
sacred'.
And the difference between what is true and what is not
is crucial in several areas of the law. For example, in the
civil law of defamation the falseness of the libel is crucial.
If the defence can prove the truth of what they publish they will win the case. Yet I have never heard it suggested that that is
Here, of course, the defendant will not even an unworkable law.
have to prove the truth of the publication; all he will have to do is cast reasonable doubt on the prosecution's allegation that
the news is false or, if he cannot do that, show that he had at the time reasonable grounds for believing the news to be true.
15.
The prosecution will also, of course, have to prove
I am sorry if I keep that the news was false in a material way. coming back to this point. In other words the prosecution must show a connection between the false aspect of the report and the That is necessarily implied likelihood of causing public alarm.
in the way the clause is drafted.
16.
The term 'likely', is one that is familiar in a legal
context and its meaning is well established.
Its dictionary
meaning is that, with reference to a possible eventuality, it is
something that might well happen.
determined that it meano
more
Judicial decisions have
than a fanciful or remote.
possibility, but need not mean as much as a probability; in other words 'likely' by itself covers a lower degree of possibility
than 'more likely than not'.
/...9