Barrow v Target et Al

JurisdictionTrinidad & Tobago
JudgePhillips, J.A.,Fraser, J.A.,Georges, J.A.
Judgment Date18 October 1972
Neutral CitationTT 1972 CA 32
Docket NumberCivil Appeal No. 59 of 1969
CourtCourt of Appeal (Trinidad and Tobago)
Date18 October 1972

Court of Appeal

Phillips, J.A.; Fraser, J.A.; Georges, J.A.

Civil Appeal No. 59 of 1969

Barrow
and
Target et al
Appearances:

T. Hosein, Q.C. ( J.A. Davis with him) for the appellant.

J.B. Dear, Q.C., and L.A. Seemungal, Q.C. for the respondents.

Defamation - Newspaper article — Whether defamatory of Prime Minister of Barbados — Whether defence of fair comment established — Issues not dealt with satisfactorily by trial judge — Appeal allowed — New trial before another judge ordered.

1

JUDGEMENT OF THE COURT:The appellant is the Prime Minister of Barbados. He became the first holder of that office on the attainment by the island of political independence within the British Commonwealth in November 1966. He had previously held the office of Premier by virtue being Chairman of the Democratic Labour Party which obtained a majority of seats in the House of Assembly in 1961.

2

Ever since the dissolution of the Federation of the West Indies and the subsequent achievement of political sovereignty by Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago in 1962, negotiations were set in train between representatives of the other member territories with a view to the establishment of a new political federation. These negotiations had continued intermittently for a considerable period were resumed at the Tenth Meeting of the Regional Council of Ministers, which was held during the last week of April 1965. This meeting proved abortive. It appears that thereafter the Government of Barbados committed itself to the task of seeking independence in isolation from the other territories and, with this end in view, decided to prepare a “White Paper” for presentation to Parliament. Paragraph 124 of the White Paper, which was in fact presented to the House of Assembly and the Senate on August 12, 1965, is to the following effect:–

“The House of Assembly will be asked to agree to a resolution requesting the Secretary of State to fix an early date for a Conference on Independence; and if agreed to, the Senate will be invited to concur therein.”

3

The respondents were at all material times the editor and the publishers respectively of the “Trinidad Guardian”, a daily newspaper published in this country and circulated throughout the islands of the Caribbean. In its issue dated October 25, 1965, there appeared an article under the caption “Barrow critics want elections”, the opening paragraph of which is as follows:–

“A NO-HOLDS BARRED fight has started in Barbados between the Government of Premier Errol Barrow and those who oppose his demand for immediate independence for the island (population 250,000) which has had an unbroken connection with Britain since 1627.

‘Never in living memory has there been such a feeling of tension in the island’, a leading businessman told me.”

4

The gist of the article was that although the majority of Barbadians supported the idea of independence for Barbados, they would prefer to see that independence attained in association with the other islands, for the reason that it was felt that “independence under Mr. Barrow would be a disaster.” The writer proceeds to give the reasons for this feeling in ( inter alia) the following words:–

“The fear is that if Mr. Barrow leads the country into immediate independence, he will also make it a republic with himself as life Presidents that there will be no more elections and that parliamentary democracy will cease to exist.

The seriousness of this growing alarm at Mr. Barrow's supposedly dictatorial tendencies has been underlined by the recent resignation of two important members of his Cabinet, Mr. W.A. Crawford, Minister of Trade and Labour (who was also Deputy Premier) and Mr. Erskine Ward, Minister without Portfolio.

Mr. Ward was Speaker of the House of Representatives in the former West Indies Federation and is a man of vast experience in both the political and judicial field in the Caribbean.

Both told me categorically that if Mr. Barrow is permitted by the British Colonial Office to take this island into immediate independence, it will be ‘goodbye to freedom’. It has been evident now for some months, they maintain that Mr. Barrow is seeking absolute power.”

5

An action instituted by the appellant for damages for libel alleged to be contained in the said article was dismissed by Achong, J. substantially on the grounds which is expressed in various forms in his judgments that “this is a case of objective reporting based on the reports appearing in the Barbados newspapers.”

6

In order to understand the learned judge's approach to his adjudication of the action it is...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT