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131 Mass. 433

Adams v. Stone

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Decided October 21, 1881

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1881-10-21

Tort for slander. The declaration alleged that the defendant, on November 10, 1879, at Springfield, “ publicly, falsely and maliciously accused the plaintiff of the crime of adultery, by words spoken of the plaintiff to one Mrs. William Brown, substantially as follows, to wit: ‘ Mr. Harvey Adams was intimate with his brother’s wife for a number of years; ’ (meaning thereby that the plaintiff had committed adultery with his brother’s wife for a number of years, meaning the…

Relies on Brettun v. Anthony · York v. Johnson · Fowle v. Robbins

Cited in Anderson (1889)’s definition of “Intoxicate”

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1881-10-21

How this case has been cited

Cited by 6 later decisions — most recently November 1939

6 state decisions

20188118901900191019201930decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Endicott, J.

¶1The demurrer was properly sustained. The words charged in the declaration as spoken by the defendant do not in themselves impute or imply the commission of a crime. *434They merely state that the plaintiff was intimate with his brother’s wife for a number of years. If the plaintiff intended to prove that the words, as used by the defendant, charged him with the commission of adultery with his brother’s wife, he should have alleged the facts, circumstances or conversation in connection with -which they were spoken and which gave to them this special and peculiar meaning. The innuendo is wholly insufficient for that purpose; it does not enlarge the meaning of the words beyond their natural import. It must appear from the declaration that the words used are actionable. Bloss v. Tobey, 2 Pick. 320. Tebbetts v. Goding, 9 Gray, 254. Goodrich v. Hooper, 97 Mass. 1. Brettun v. Anthony, 103 Mass. 37. York v. Johnson, 116 Mass. 482. Krebs v. Oliver, 12 Gray, 239. Fowle v. Robbins, 12 Mass. 498. Goodrich v. Davis, 11 Met. 473. Carter v. Andrews, 16 Pick. 1.

¶2Judgment affirmed.

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