E. Hulton & Co. v. Jones

Hulton's (defendant) newspaper published an article by its Paris correspondent describing a fictional "Artemus Jones" as unfaithful to his wife; the actual Thomas Artemus Jones (plaintiff), who had previously contributed signed articles to the same paper, sued for defamation. Hulton insisted it had never heard of the real Jones and had simply invented the name, a claim Jones accepted as true - but Jones produced multiple witnesses who testified they genuinely believed the article referred to him specifically. A jury awarded Jones damages, and both the court of appeal and House of Lords affirmed.