Can a plea of justification be defended as to the truth of any defamatory statements in a series of articles?
Saskatchewan, Canada
The following excerpt is from Leech v. Leader Publishing Co., Ltd., 1926 CanLII 159 (SK CA):
Such was the plea pleaded herein, and consequently there was no defence raised as to the truth of any defamatory statements appearing in the articles, as such can only be defended by a plea of justification, and in my opinion the learned trial Judge should have so instructed the jury. Levi v. Milne, supra; also cases referred to p. 43 Bower on Actionable Defamation. In this action, although there was no plea of justification, evidence was improperly admitted to prove the truth of the defamatory matter appearing in each one of the said articles, and bearing on the answers given by the jury adverse to the plaintiff.
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