thereby depriving the appellant of an opportunity to apply for the consolidation of the
actions with the other defendants, namely:

Times News papers Zambia Limited, Daily Mail and Liyoka (the action
against the latter seems to have been discontinued by conduct) and also, as a result of
the deprivation of the right as mentioned the learned trial judge was also deprived of the
opportunity to decide at once and for all the damage in one sum to the respondent
against all the defendants including the appellant.

4.

The learned trial judge erred in law and in fact in that he failed to take into

account the fact that the originator of the libels, namely, a Mr Liyoka, has not been
brought to court by the respondent as mentioned above to meet his liability to the
respondent by way of damages.

I will deal with the third and fourth grounds of appeal together. They relate to alleged
errors by the learned trial judge caused by the failure of the plaintiff to sue Times
Newspapers Limited, Zambia Publishing Co. Limited and Mr Liyolka at the same time.

If, as is highly probable, Mr Liyoka was a party to the publications by radio and
television, he was a joint tortleasor. If, on the other hand, he was merely a maker of a
similar defamatory statement, he was a separate tortfeasor.

The law relating to joint torticasors is clearly stated by Lord Hailsham at page 817 of
Cassell & Co. Ltd v Broome [1]. He said: "As counsel conceded, however, plaintiffs who
wish to differentiate between the defendants can do so in various ways, for example, by
electing to sue the more guilty only, by commencing separate proceedings against each

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