A Selection of Cases on the Law of Torts

by Unknown

The general rule is, that when language is published concerning a person or his affairs, which, from its nature, necessarily must, or presumably will as its natural and proximate consequence, occasion him pecuniary loss, its publication is libellous per se. See Townsend on Slander and Libel, (4th ed.) §§ 146 and 147; Fry v. McCord, 95 Tenn. 680, 33 S. W. 568.

Peculiar damages are required to be alleged only when the publication, with its attending facts and circumstances, is such that damages do not naturally arise from the publication. If the publication, with its attending facts and circumstances, is such that the court can legally presume that injury followed as a natural and inevitable consequence of the act complained of, then there is no occasion, in order to maintain an action, that the plaintiff allege or prove peculiar damages. If the nature and character of the publication, with its attending facts and circumstances, are such as to injuriously affect or detract from the reputation and standing of another, and as a natural and proximate result, tend to bring him into public contempt, hatred, or ridicule, then it is libellous per se. If such injury can be said to be a natural proximate result or consequence of its publication, then the plaintiff is presumed to have been damaged, and there is no need of any allegation of peculiar damages. The extent of the damages is for the jury.

It is the venom of poisoned speech that constitutes the libel. In tracing the wrong that flows from the publication, we come first to the mind of the reader, and inquire what effect it would naturally have upon the ordinary thinking mind. We first consider the facts published, and the circumstances under which they were published, and the persons to whom a knowledge of the publication was brought. An inquiry arises, would such a publication, under such circumstances, naturally tend to poison the mind against the person concerning whom the matter was published? If the matter published can be said, in its natural effect upon the mind, to produce hurt to the good name, fame, and reputation of the person about whom the publication is made, then we say the matter is defamatory, and the person necessarily has suffered not only wrong, but damages, as a proximate result of the wrong—damage to his good name, fame, and reputation in the community. If the words in and of themselves, when published, do not tend to this effect naturally and of their own force and vitality, the mind naturally inquires into the circumstances under which they were published, the manner of their publication, and the persons to whom a knowledge of the publication was brought. This inquiry is pursued to ascertain the effect which the publication, under the circumstances, would naturally have upon the mind of the person to whom a knowledge of the publication was brought. If the words and the circumstances attending their publication would not naturally affect the mind prejudicially against the person concerning whom the publication is made, it must be alleged and shown, not only that they were used in a defamatory sense, but that they were so understood by the hearers. When words, innocent in themselves, are charged to have been intended and used in a defamatory sense, it must be alleged and proven that they were intended in a defamatory sense and were so understood by the persons to whom they were addressed. If they do not themselves convey a defamatory meaning, or an imputation that is defamatory, something must be alleged which shows, or tends to show, that the user of the words intended them in a defamatory sense, and that the persons to whom a knowledge of the publication came were affected in their mental attitude towards the person, to the injury of his good name, fame, and reputation. The publication may be so worded that this could not be gathered from the publication itself. It may be innocent and even commendatory in itself, yet the facts and circumstances attending the publication, the relationship of the parties—the defamer and the defamed—to the public may be such, considered in the light of the subject-matter concerning which the publication is made, that it is apparent that there was not only an intent to defame, but that a defamatory imputation was so exposed, that the ordinary mind easily grasped the purpose of the publication and its injurious consequences to the good name, fame, and reputation of the defamed.

Men receive impressions of and concerning others from what they hear others say about them. Libel is a tort. It consists in a wrong done to the good name, fame, and reputation of another. It is in the nature of an assault upon the good name, fame, and reputation of another. The law protects a man in the possession of his good name, and denies to others the right, wrongfully and wickedly, to make an assault upon it. It is often the only asset a man has. Rob him of this, and you rob him of all that he has in life that makes life worth living.

A physical assault is clearly understood and easily defined. One may be punished criminally or mulcted in damages civilly for physical assault. Libel is an assault upon that invisible and intangible thing known as reputation. Though invisible and intangible, it exists among men and is prized, and the law protects it. As has been said by this court, libel rests upon the thought that a public wrong has been committed; an act has been done in violation of the statute, to the hurt of the complaining citizen. A citizen’s right to remain secure in his good name and reputation among his fellows, and to enjoy their confidence and esteem, has been violated. A libel is that which tends to take from him one of his most valuable rights—his right to the confidence, esteem, and respect of his fellow men. One who, by right living and right conduct, has built up for himself an enviable name among his fellows, and has drawn to him their confidence and esteem, is entitled to retain and enjoy the same, and one who wrongfully and maliciously, and without just cause, makes an assault thereon, and impairs or injures the same, does a grievous wrong for which he is answerable in damages.

It is true that the wrong must be found in the publication, not merely in the wording of the thing published. The injury must flow from the publication. The damage must be the natural and proximate result of the publication; a result that usually, naturally, and ordinarily follows as a result of the wrong done.

Though the article itself conveys no wrong impression concerning the complainant, and in and of itself could do no harm, it may become most injurious, most hurtful; it may become a direct assault upon the good name, fame, and reputation, because of the manner and the circumstances under which it was published. The publication must be libellous, not necessarily that the article in and of itself is libellous.

“A libel is the malicious defamation of a person made public by any writing,” &c. It is the malicious defamation against which the inhibition of the statute is raised; malicious defamation made public by writing. A writing made public which is intended to and does, because of its publication, tend to provoke to wrath, to expose to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule, or which deprives one of the benefits of public confidence and social intercourse, is libellous per se.

Every written publication, maliciously made, defamatory of another, which tends to any of the consequences set out in the statute, is a violation of the inhibitions of the statute. It is therefore a wrong done to a citizen in violation of the statute. It is therefore actionable per se. The fact that it is a violation of the inhibition of the statute makes it actionable per se.

In contemplation of law, reputation is a delicate plant, withered by the breath of scandal. Any publication which imputes to another conduct which right-thinking men condemn, whether the conduct involve a crime, moral turpitude, or any conduct in life, purpose, or manner of living which the common sense of right-thinking men condemns, is presumed in law to have injuriously affected the reputation of the person so assailed, and, by such injury, to have caused him some damage.