innuendo

Words that look harmless may be defamatory in the light of extrinsic facts. A statement that X was seen entering a particular house is innocent on its face, but defamatory to readers who know the house is a brothel. Where the plaintiff relies on such a meaning, he must plead the innuendo, state the extrinsic facts, and prove that they were known to those who read the words.

English law distinguishes the true (legal) innuendo, which depends on such special facts, from the false (popular) innuendo, which is the meaning an ordinary reader would infer without special knowledge. In Tolley v. J.S. Fry & Sons (House of Lords, 1931) an advertisement showing an amateur golfer with a chocolate bar was defamatory by innuendo, as it suggested he had prostituted his amateur status for money. The intention of the speaker is irrelevant.

Example

The plaintiff pleaded an innuendo that the words “he knows how to get files moving” meant, to his office colleagues, that he took bribes.

In Indian law

• Tolley v. J.S. Fry & Sons Ltd (House of Lords, 1931)

See also

defamation · libel · slander · fair comment

Read more in the study notes

• Defamation: libel and slander (Law of Torts)