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JURY'S FINDING
SET ASIDE BY JUDGE
Solicitor's Action
JUDGMENT FOR DEFENDANT
BRISBANE, Wednesday. — In the
Supreme Court to-day, Mr. Justice
Henchman, after hearing argument, set
aside the finding of a jury for £200
damages in favour of George McGhie,
solicitor, Maryborough, in an action
heard before him last week, in which
Mr. McGhie sought £2000 damages for
alleged defamation from Hugh Cam
eron Armstrong, retired contractor, of
Torquay.
His Honour entered judgment for
defendant on the whole action, and
allowed defendant's costs for three
days. He said it was admitted that de
fendant wrote to the secretary of the
Incorporated Law Society, and the jury
found that the letter was defamatory
matter. They had also found that the
publication was not in good faith. Sec
tion 5 of the Law Society Act seemed
to him to contemplate giving the right
to any person who had dealings with a
practitioner to complain to the gov
erning hody, to see whether and so
far he had been aggrieved by profes
sional misconduct. It .was a difficult
question as to whether full authority
could be given to the provision by
holding it to be impliedly qualified by
any requirement of gqod faith.
On the whole, though, he felt it his
duty to endeavour to give effect to the
will of Parliament, and it did seem
to him that he ought to hold that a
person who practically felt aggrieved
by any alleged professional misconduct
of a practitioner had the right to send a
letter of complaint to the Council, ir
respective of whether his state of mind
would be such that under Section 373
of the code, the sending of such a
letter would be deemed to be a publi
cation made in good faith.
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