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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Broome v Cassell & Co Ltd was an English libel case which raised important legal issues concerning exemplary damages and the role of precedents in English law. It was also famous for the involvement of the controversial writer and historian David Irving.
Captain Jack Broome, a distinguished retired Royal Navy officer, sued Cassell Ltd and David Irving for libel for publishing a book by Irving on the destruction of Convoy PQ 17 in 1942. The book alleged that the destruction of the convoy was in large part due to Broome's conduct, even though Broome's superiors had absolved him of any blame at the time. After a three week trial in the High Court, a jury awarded Broome £40,000 in damages, including £25,000 in exemplary damages (also known as punitive damages), the highest award for libel made in England up to that time.
The defendents appealed to the Court of Appeal against the size of the jury's award. The Court of Appeal upheld the award, but also used the opportunity to criticise the controversial 1964 House of Lords decision Rookes v Barnard, which severely limited the circumstances under which exemplary damages could be awarded. Arguing that the Lords' decision had been made per incuriam, Lord Denning, the Master of the Rolls, suggested that trial judges should disregard Rookes v Barnard and direct juries in accordance with the law as understood previously. On a further appeal, the House of Lords also upheld the jury award, but the Lord Chancellor, Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone severely rebuked the Court of Appeal for directing judges of first instance to ignore Rookes v Barnard, which he considered as being incompatible with the hierarchical system of English courts.
Lord Hailsham's speech in Broome v Cassell is cited today in relation to the hierarchical nature of the English legal system and for lower courts' duty in following the decision of higher courts. The parts of Rookes v Barnard concerning exemplary damages remains good law, although they have been rejected in most leading Commonwealth jurisdictions. Irving continued to provoke controversy, later becoming a Holocaust denier. He was later involved in Irving v Penguin Books Ltd, another high-profile libel suit.