[436]. There is great diversity of opinion as to what words, imputing the commission of a crime, are actionable per se. The authorities may be classified as follows:—
I. Words imputing a criminal offence punishable corporally.
In Hawes’s Case, March, 113 (speaking against common prayer); Heake v. Moulton, Yelv. 90; Walden v. Mitchell, 2 Ventr. 265; Scoble v. Lee, 2 Show. 32 (regrating); McCabe v. Foot, 15 L. T. Rep. 115; Elliott v. Ailsberry, 2 Bibb, 473 (fornication); M’Gee v. Wilson, Litt. S. C. 187 (unchastity); Mills v. Wimp, 10 B. Mon. 417 (semble); Buck v. Hersey, 31 Me. 558 (drunkenness); Wagaman v. Byers, 17 Md. 183 (adultery); Birch v. Benton, 26 Mo. 153 (whipping one’s wife); Speaker v. McKenzie, 26 Mo. 255 (whipping one’s mother); Billings v. Wing, 7 Vt. 439 (“he snaked his mother out of doors by the hair of her head; it was the day before she died”), the words uttered were held not to give a right of action, since they imputed crimes punishable only by fine, or by imprisonment merely as a consequence of the non-payment of the fine.
II. Words imputing a criminal offence and involving moral turpitude. Sipp v. Coleman, 179 Fed. 997; Taylor v. Gumpert, 96 Ark. 354; Frisbie v. Fowler, 2 Conn. 707; Hoag v. Hatch, 23 Conn. 585; Page v. Merwin, 54 Conn. 426; Kennenberg v. Neff, 74 Conn. 62; Yakavicze v. Valentukevicious, 84 Conn. 350; Reitan v. Goebel, 33 Minn. 151.
III. Words imputing a criminal offence, involving moral turpitude and punishable corporally. Redway v. Gray, 31 Vt. 292 (qualifying Billings v. Wing, 7 Vt. 439); Murray v. McAllister, 38 Vt. 167.
IV. Words imputing a criminal offence involving disgrace. Miller v. Parish, 8 Pick. 384; Brown v. Nickerson, 5 Gray, 1; Kenney v. McLaughlin, 5 Gray, 3; Ranger v. Goodrich, 17 Wis. 78; Mayer v. Schleichter, 29 Wis. 646; Gibson v. Gibson, 43 Wis. 23; Geary v. Bennett, 53 Wis. 444.
V. Words imputing a criminal offence subjecting the offender to infamous punishment. Shipp v. McCraw, 3 Murph. 463; Brady v. Wilson, 4 Hawks. 93; Skinner v. White, 1 Dev. & Bat. 471; Wall v. Hoskins, 5 Ired. 177; Wilson v. Tatum, 8 Jones, (N. C.) 300; McKee v. Wilson, 87 N. C. 300; Harris v. Terry, 98 N. C. 131.
VI. Words imputing an indictable offence involving moral turpitude, or subjecting the offender to an infamous punishment. See Brooker v. Coffin, infra, and cases cited.
VII. Words imputing an indictable offence punishable corporally. Griffin v. Moore, 43 Md. 246; Shafer v. Ahalt, 48 Md. 171; Birch v. Benton, 26 Mo. 153; Curry v. Collins, 37 Mo. 324; Bundy v. Hart, 46 Mo. 460; Lewis v. McDaniel, 82 Mo. 577; Houston v. Woolley, 37 Mo. App. 15, 24; Parsons v. Henry, 177 Mo. App. 329.
As to defamation of a corporation, see Oram v. Hutt, [1913] 1 Ch. 259; Axton Tobacco Co. v. Evening Post Co., 169 Ky. 64; Stone v. Textile Employers Ass’n, 137 App. Div. 655.