Malice Sample Clauses

Malice. 68) Counsel for the Defendant has, in his submissions, pointed out that the Claimant has not pleaded malice and that such must be strictly pleaded and proven. Indeed, Part 69.2 of the Civil Procedure Rules does state that the claimant must state that the words were published maliciously. It is my view that such a submission is misconceived because, as Xxxx Xxxxxxxx said in Jameel, where Xxxxxxxx applies, it is no longer necessary to carry out the “two-step” examination of “duty and interest” and “absence of malice”. The concept of malice is now to be considered in the context of whether the article represents “responsible journalism”. As he said at paragraph 46: “If the publication is in the public interest, the duty and interest are taken to exist. The Xxxxxxxx defence is very different from the privilege discussed by the Court of Appeal in Blackshaw v Lord [1984] QB 1, where it was contemplated that in exceptional circumstances there could be a privileged occasion in the classic sense, arising out of a duty to communicate information to the public generally and a corresponding interest in receiving it. The Court of Appeal there contemplated a traditional privilege, liable to be defeated only by proof of malice. But the Xxxxxxxx defence does not employ this two-stage process. It is not as narrow as traditional privilege nor is there a burden upon the claimant to show malice to defeat it.”