Kelly v John Fairfax and Sons Ltd (No 3)

In *Kelly v John Fairfax and Sons Ltd (No 3)*, the New South Wales Court of Appeal considered an appeal concerning the publication of certain articles by the defendant, John Fairfax and Sons Ltd, which the plaintiff, Mr. Kelly, alleged were defamatory. The core of the dispute revolved around the meaning and implications of these published articles and whether they conveyed defamatory imputations about Mr. Kelly.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was to determine the correct construction of the allegedly defamatory publications. Specifically, the court had to ascertain the natural and ordinary meaning of the words used in the articles, considering how they would be understood by ordinary reasonable readers. This involved assessing whether the publications, when read as a whole, conveyed defamatory imputations concerning the plaintiff's reputation.

The Court of Appeal applied established principles of defamation law regarding the construction of defamatory material. It emphasised that the meaning of words is to be judged by the ordinary reasonable reader, who is not a lawyer, nor a man of legal training, but is a person of common sense. The court considered the context in which the words were published and the likely impact on the readership. The reasoning focused on whether the imputations pleaded by the plaintiff were capable of being found by a jury to be the natural and ordinary meaning of the words published. The court ultimately found that the articles were capable of bearing a defamatory meaning and that the appeal should be allowed in part, remitting the matter for a new trial on certain issues.