From Lincoln. Action for a libel. The libel was found by the Defendant at his shop-door early in the morning : he carried it into the shop of a neighbour, Reinhardt, read enough of the paper to discover what it was, and handed it to Reinhardt, who read it. Defendant then proposed to burn the libel; but this was objected to by Reinhardt, who said that the Plaintiff ought to have it, and observed that it should not remain in his shop, and asked the Defendant to take it away.
¶2
The essence of the charge in the declaration, consists in the malice of the publication, and the intent to defame the
Plaintiff;
and although from the publication of a libel unexplained, malice will be
prima fade
implied, yet, as the act may be innocent, and in some cases justifiable, the circumstances under which.it was done, were proper to have been left to the Jury. -It is the same, in principle, with an action of slander, where the Defendant may give in evidence, the manner and occasion of speaking the words, and repel, if he can, the implication of malice arising from utterance. If the Defendant could satisfy the Jury that the paper was left in Hoke’s window with an innocent intention, it would have explained what otherwise wears the appearance of a malicious publication. There ought to be a new trial.
