Scottish Court of Session Decisions

In the issue of a newspaper called the Glasgow Evening News and Star, for 10th August 1885, in a special “variety” column of the paper there appeared the following paragraph:—“I shall not sup again in the Albany Hotel. The other evening I was charged there 4s. 6d. for supper, consisting of an omelette with certainly not more than half-a-dozen eggs, and the quality was by no means consistent with the price.”

In consequence of this paragraph, Macrae, the lessee of the Albany Hotel referred to, called on Wicks, the printer and publisher of the newspaper with reference thereto, and as a result of his visit, in the issue of the 11th August the following apology was inserted:—“I have been grossly deceived, and I have unwittingly maligned Mr Macrae, the proprietor of the Albany Hotel, Sauchiehall Street. A paragraph was inserted in this column yesterday, saying I supped at the Albany, and was charged 4s. 6d. for an omelette for one. I have never supped at the Albany, and the omelette in question was a supper for three, together with biscuits, cheese, bread, and butter, and the whole was charged only 4s. 6d.—that is, 1s. 6d. for each supper. I should like to know where so good a supper could be had as cheaply in all Glasgow.”

This was an action by Macrae against Wicks for £500 as damages for slander alleged to to have been contained in the paper of 10th August, as above quoted. The pursuer alleged that the paragraph was of and concerning him and his hotel, and falsely and calumniously represented that he grossly overcharged his guests, supplied inferior articles, and kept a bad hotel, which did not merit public support, and should be avoided, and that the paragraph was intended and calculated to spoil his business.

The Lord Ordinary ( Lee) sustained a plea-in-law that the action was irrelevant, and assoilzied the defender from the conclusions of the action, holding “that the paragraph in question was obviously of too absurd and trifling a nature to be capable of supporting any serious innuendo against the character either of the pursuer or of his hotel.”

The pursuer reclaimed, arid the Second Division recalled the Lord Ordinary's interlocutor, and remitted to him to proceed with the cause.

The following issue for the trial of the cause was approved of by the Lord Ordinary:—“Whether, in the Glasgow Evening News and Star, of 10th August 1885, the defender falsely and calumniously printed and published a paragraph of and concerning the Albany Hotel, Glasgow, of which the pursuer was then lessee, in the terms set forth in the schedule hereto annexed, representing thereby that the pursuer charged extortionately, to the loss, injury, and damage of the pursuer. Damages laid at £500.”

The schedule set forth the paragraph above quoted.

The pursuer moved the Court to substitute the following issue for that approved of by the Lord Ordinary:—“Whether, in the Glasgow Evening News and Star, of 10th August 1885, the defender falsely and calumniously printed and published a paragraph of and concerning the Albany Hotel, Glasgow, of which the pursuer was the lessee, in the terms set forth in the schedule hereto annexed, to the loss, injury, and damage of the pursuer.”