David Eady Appeal for his conduct during the 2009 libel case involving Richard Desmond and Tom Bower. Eady disallowed several pieces of evidence against Desmond which the Appeal Court ruled were clearly relevant to the case. The Court of Appeal judges ruled that Eady's decision was "plainly wrong" and "might lead to a miscarriage of justice". After hearing the evidence, the jury found in favour of Bower. In December 2009, Eady commented in "The Guardian" on some of this criticism, saying that "The media have nowhere to vent their frustrations other than through personal abuse of the particular judge who happens to
Libel (admiralty law) the officer to attach it, which is considered sufficient notice to the owners. The libel must be verified by the libellant, as the complainant is called, or the complainant's agent if the complainant is without the jurisdiction. The term comes from the old French "libel", "libelle", "libeau", corresponding to , from , diminutive of , book, inner bark of a tree. The name was borrowed from the Roman law where a pleading known as the "libellus conventionis" was employed to commence an action. The word libel continued to designate the first pleading in an action under the civil law. It