PROPRIETOR OF NEWSPAPER PRESUMED RESPONSIBLE

303. [1] The proprietor of a newspaper shall be deemed to publish defamatory matter that is inserted and published therein, unless he proves that the defamatory matter was inserted in the newspaper without his knowledge and without negligence on his part.

[2] Where the proprietor of a newspaper gives to a person general authority to manage or conduct the newspaper as editor or otherwise, the insertion by the person of defamatory matter in the newspaper shall, for the purposes of subsection [1], be deemed not to be negligence on the part of the proprietor unless it is proved that

[a] he intended the general authority to include authority to insert defamatory matter in the newspaper; or

[b] he continued to confer general authority after he knew that it had been exercised by the insertion of defamatory matter in the newspaper.

[3] No person shall be deemed to publish defamatory libel by reason only that he sells a number or part of a newspaper that contains a defamatory libel, unless he knows that the number or part contains defamatory matter or that defamatory matter is habitually contained in the newspaper. [R.S., c.C-34, s.267.]