Garibaldi was Nicois apparently - Nice was given a choice of being Italian or Fransh by plebiscite
anyway - funny you should ask.
So, you tell Coun Smith he is a complete twazzock and helping himself to various things
and he decides to sue for libel.
Is it lawful to get the Council to underwrite his costs of the action ?
well it certainly is, if he can get them to pay - with public money of course ie mine and yours
however that course of action was recently heavily criticised in the High Court (university paid for a lecturer's libel action)
in Tolstoy v Aldington, about the return and massacre of Cossacks back to Russia in 1945, see here:
http://www.rbd26.dial.pipex.com/costrepu.htm
Lord Aldington lucky fellow got an insurance company to underwrite his costs.
As a past treasurer of an organisation, I would be v unwilling to use subscription funds to finance a court case such as this but clearly I may be alone in this