
Libel lawyers might well take a more nuanced view than some press commentators of the news that Mr Justice Eady is to be replaced as the judge responsible for the Queen’s Bench jury lists which hear the major defamation and privacy cases.
Will replacing Mr Justice Eady improve press-judiciary relations, asks Jon Robins
Libel lawyers might well take a more nuanced view than some press commentators of the news that Mr Justice Eady is to be replaced as the judge responsible for the Queen’s Bench jury lists which hear the major defamation and privacy cases. Certainly, more so than the Daily Mail columnist who memorably accused Eady J of being “as cold as a frozen haddock”.
Criticising judges for a lack of emotion seems to be missing the point, but Eady J’s many journalist critics will be hoping that his departure, and the appointment of his successor, Mr Justice Tugendhat, might mark a thawing of relations between judiciary and the press.
Attack
It was the case brought by Formula One boss Max Mosley against the News of the World, that prompted a blistering