THE SPHERE

London, England

26 December 1953

(page 540)

The World of Books.

By Vernon Fane

Another legal book of much interest is Joseph Dean’s HATRED, RIDICULE OR CONTEMPT (Constable. 15s.). Here the author tells the story of a variety of English libel cases chosen from the many thousands which have been fought since Fox’s Libel Act of 1792 decided that the value of a man’s reputation was to be judged by a jury of his fellows. The strange, contentious, forlorn and cynical personalities which march across these pages include Noel Pemberton Billing, M.P., Lord Alfred Douglas, Rasputin, Horatio Bottomley and Aleister Crowley.