Adam v. Ward was a 1919 House of Lords case concerning the legal theories of qualified privilege and that of the constitutional defence.
Major Adam appealed the decision, without success, and was placed on half-pay along with four other officers until 1910, when he was returned as Member of Parliament for Woolwich and left the Army.
On 27 June 1910 Adam made a speech in the House of Commons in which he referred to the case of a fellow officer who had been placed on half-pay at the same time and under similar circumstances.
Adam issued proceedings for libel against Sir Edward Ward, secretary of the Army Council, who had signed the letter.
In Reynolds v Times Newspapers Limited and Others, 1999, Lord Atkinson's quote was cited to define what a privileged occasion is.