Pollock, C. B. We are all of opinion that the defendant is entitled to judgment. There is no precedent for any such special damage as that laid in this declaration being made a ground of action, so as to render words actionable which otherwise would not be so. We ought to be careful not to introduce a new element of damage, recollecting to what a large class of actions it would apply, and what a dangerous use might be made of it. In actions for making false charges before magistrates, for giving false characters, and for torts of all kinds, illness might be said to have arisen from the wrong sustained by the plaintiff. The case of Ford v. Monroe, 20 Wendell, 210, is the only authority that has any tendency to throw light on the argument; but we ought not to act upon the authority of that case, opposed as it is to the universal practice of the law in this country. The courts here have always taken care that parties shall not be responsible for fanciful or remote damages, or, in fact, any that do not fairly and naturally result from the wrongful act itself. It is only lately that a clear and distinct view of the subject of damages was taken, in Hadley v. Baxendale, 9 Exch. 341, in which it was held that a person whose duty it is to deliver goods to another is not responsible for any damages resulting from the non-delivery, unless they are the damages which would result immediately and naturally, that is, according to the usual course of things, from the breach of contract itself, or such as may reasonably be supposed to have been in the contemplation of both parties at the time they made contract. Slander may be repeated, and the repetition may cause mischief. In one sense nothing is more natural than that such should be the case. So there are many other consequences which may follow in libel and slander in respect of which there is no remedy. This particular damage depends on the temperament of the party affected, and it may be laid down that illness arising from the excitement which the slanderous language may produce is not that sort of damage which forms a ground of action.
Judgment for the defendant.[[532]]
DAVIES v. SOLOMON
In the Queen’s Bench, November 29, 1871.
Reported in Law Reports, 7 Queen’s Bench, 112.
Blackburn, J.[[533]] The sole difficulty in deciding the case is caused by the opinion of Lord Wensleydale in Lynch v. Knight, 9 H. L. C. 577. He held that no action would lie for slander of a wife when the only special damage alleged was the loss to the plaintiff of the consortium of her husband. In the present case, however, it is unnecessary to decide this question, for the declaration, after alleging the loss of cohabitation by the wife, proceeds to aver that “she lost, and was deprived of the companionship, and ceased to receive the hospitality of divers friends.” Now, first, was that consequence such as might reasonably and naturally be expected to follow from the speaking of the slanderous words? Judging from the habits and manners of society, of all the consequences that might be expected to result from a statement that a woman had committed adultery, or had been guilty of unchastity, the most natural would be that those who had invited her and given her hospitality would thenceforth cease to do so. Then Moore v. Meagher, 1 Taunt. 39, decides that the loss of the hospitality of friends is sufficient special damage to sustain an action like the present, and the hospitality, as the word is there used, means simply that persons receive another into their houses, and give him meat and drink gratis. Perhaps such a definition may rather extend the signification of the word, but it is true in effect—for if they do not receive him, or if they make him pay for his entertainment, that is not hospitality. In Roberts v. Roberts, 5 B. & S. 384, 33 L. J. Q. B. 249, it is to be observed, that the loss suffered by the plaintiff in being excluded from a religious society was not temporal, and was therefore held not to be enough. But in the present case there is a matter of temporal damage—small though it be—laid in the declaration. It is also argued, that inasmuch as this action is brought by the wife, the husband being merely joined for conformity, the damage necessary to give a right to recover must be damage to her alone, and that the loss of hospitality which she has hitherto enjoyed is only pecuniary loss to her husband, and not to her. That certainly is a plausible argument, as the husband is of course bound to maintain his wife and to supply her with food, although her friends cease to do so. I am, however, unwilling to agree with such artificial reasoning, and I think that the real damage in this case is to the wife herself. Notwithstanding that it is the husband’s duty to support his wife, he is only bound to provide her with necessaries suitable to his station in life; and she might, by visiting friends in a higher position than himself, enjoy luxuries which he either could not or might not choose to afford her. But I should be sorry to say that we must enter into a nice inquiry as to whether such hospitality would save the purse of the husband or of the wife. I am therefore of opinion that the declaration is good; and the demurrer must be overruled.
Mellor and Hannen, JJ., concurred.
Judgment for the plaintiffs.
CORCORAN v. CORCORAN
In the Exchequer, Ireland, November 17, 1857.
Reported in 7 Irish Common Law Reports, 272.
Defamation.—The summons and plaint stated the speaking of words imputing prostitution to the plaintiff Anne, and calling her a vagabond, with an innuendo that this word imputed that she was a vagrant without a fixed place of abode. By means of the committing of which several grievances, the said plaintiff Anne hath been injured in her credit and reputation, and brought into disgrace with her acquaintances, in so much that her brother K. Dooley, who had promised to supply the said Anne with means to enable her to emigrate to Australia to join her husband, has now, in consequence of the imputations cast upon her character by the said defendant, retracted his promise until the truth or falsehood of the said charges shall have been first ascertained and established; whereby, &c.
Demurrer.
Pennefather, B.[[534]] It certainly does strike me that this summons and plaint would not be good without the allegation of special damage.