Court case[1962] 1 WLR 151

The plaintiff, a married woman, was a member of a local council; the defendant was a fellow councillor. The defendant wrote her a grossly defamatory letter, put it in a sealed envelope addressed to her and delivered it through her letter box. The envelope looked very like the election addresses then being circulated. Her husband picked it up, thought it was an election circular, opened it and read it. She sued for libel, and the jury found that the defendant had published the letter to her husband.

The Court of Appeal upheld the verdict. Whether there was publication was a question of fact for the jury: was the husband's opening and reading of the letter a natural and probable consequence of the way the defendant sent it? Given that the envelope resembled election literature, was not marked private and was delivered to the matrimonial home at election time, the jury could reasonably conclude that it was foreseeable that the husband would open it. The defendant was therefore liable for its publication to him.