Publication - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition publication

Definition :

Publication, divulgation; proclamation; also 'the communication of defamatory words to some person or persons other than the person defamed' (Odgers on Libel).

The publication of fair reports of legal proceedings in Court (other than ex parte proceedings) is a Common Law right exempt from proceedings for libel.

As to the publication of an apology for libel in a newspaper, see LIBEL.

Is essential in an action of defamation that the publication be to a third person, though the law is otherwise in Scotland. Thus, there can be no publication as between husband and wife, Wennhak v. Morgan, (1888) 20 QBD 635; but publication can be made to either husband or wife respecting the other, Jones v. Williams, (1888) 1 TLR 572. The third party to whom the matter is published may be in the position of a servant or clerk, Edmondson v. Birch & Co., (1907) 1 KB 371, but see Osborn v. Boulter & Son, (1930) 2 KB 226; but must be able to understand the defamatory character of the matter, Sadgrove v. Hole, (1901) 2 KB 1. It is no defence that the publication was unintentional unless without negligence the person charged with 'publishing' was in fact ignorant of the contents of the document, M'Leod v. St. Aubyn, 1899 AC 549; but the onus of proving this lies on the Defendant, Vizetelly v. Mudie's Library, (1900) 2 QB 170. In criminal libel, publication to the prosecutor in sufficient.

For the purposes of the Copyright Act, 1911, publica-tion means the issue of copies of a work to the public, and does not include the performance in public of a dramatic or musical work, the delivery in public of a lecture, the exhibition in public of an artistic work, or the construction of an architectural work of art, but the issue of photographs and engravings of works of sculpture and architectural works of art is not to be deemed to be publication of such works [s. 1 (3)]

As only a new and original invention can be patented, publication before protection defeats the inventor's right to protection by patent, unless the publication be without the knowledge or consent of an inventor who has not been guilty of unreason-able delay in obtaining protection. An invention covered by any patent is not deemed to have been anticipated by reason only of, inter alia, its publication in a specification left pursuant to an application made in the United Kingdom not less than fifty years before the patent, or of its publica-tion in a provisional specification of any date not followed by a complete specificating [(English) Patents and Designs Act, 1932, s. 13 and Sch., substituting the Scheduled s. for s. 41 of the (English) Patents and Designs Act, 1907]. Similarly, prior publication of design (q.v.) prevents registra-tion, but publication by exhibition at industrial and international exhibitions and exhibition elsewhere without the proprietor's privity or consent does not operate as a publication so as to defeat registration, provided that the conditions imposed are complied with (ibid., ss. 49 and 59, as amended by the Act of 1932).

Publication of evidence in Chancery is no longer practised, as all parties attend the examination of witnesses.

Publication of a citation in two newspapers is frequently ordered by the Court for Divorce and the Court of Probate as a step to entering an appearance for a party.

As to publication of banns of marriage, see MARRIAGE.

Publication of a will is no longer necessary, the proper attestion of two witnesses taking the place of the 'publication,' i.e., the declaration by the testator in the presence of witnesses that it was his will (Wills Act, 1837, s. 13). See REPUBLICATION.