Libel

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1.

The name of a wrong, also an offence, consisting in a censorious or ridiculing writing, picture, or sign, made with a mischievous and malicious intent towards government, magistrates, or individuals. This definition, pro- Cos. 337, 354, has been widely approved and often adopted. The word is also used as a verb, signifying to publish a libel of a person. The principle is, that defamation conveyed by word of mouth only is slander, and actionable as such only. If conveyed in any other manner, it is libel; the tendency of all other modes of communication being to make a more distinct and permanent, and therefore more iujm-ious, impression. Such acts as burning a man in ejflgy are doubtless cognizable under the law of libel. In a New York case, the plaintiff, a young woman, complained that the defendant, a young man, took her chemise from the lines in the yard of her house where it was hanging to dry, did it up in a parcel, and sent it to her by a third person as messenger; and the judge charged the jury that these facts would warrant a suit for libel, as they tended to imply that plaintiff had left the article with defendant in some interview growing out of an improper intimacy. In a case cited, 1 Show. 314, an action was maintained for scandalizing the plaintiff by carrying a fellow about, dressed with horns, bowing at the plaintiff's door. In such cases there is no element of permanence in the mode of communication adopted; yet libel is applicable. The words — when words are employed — or the imputation need not be as distinctly injurious or aspersive as is necessary to sustain an action of slander: any injurious tendency is.sufficient. A libel is a malicious publication, expressed either in printing or writing, or by signs and pictures, tending either to blacken the memory of one dead, or the reputation of one who is alive, and expose him to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule.

Commonwealth V. Clap, 4 Mass. 163; Clark v. Binney, 2 Pick. 113; Ryckman v. Delavan, 25 Wend. 186, 198; Root v. King, 7 Cow. 613.

Any publication the tendency of which is to degxade or injure another person, or to bring him into contempt, ridicule, or hatred, or which accuses him of a crime punishable by law, or of an act odious and disgraceful in society, is a libel.

Dexter v. Spear, 4 Mas. 115.

To substantially the same effect is White v. Nicho Us, 3 How. 266, 291. A libel is a malicious defamation, extion of another, and thereby exposing such person to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule.

Armentrout v, Moranda, 8 Blackf. 426.

A libel is a publication, without justification or lawful excuse, of words calculated to injure the reputation of another, and expose him to hatred or contempt.

Whitney V. Janesville Gazette, 5 Biss. 330.

A libel is a censorious or ridiculing writing, picture, or sign, made with a mischievous intent.

State v. Farley, 4 Mc Card, 317.

Every thing, written or printed, which reflects on the character of another, and is published without lawful justification or excuse, is a libel, whatever the intention may have been. O'Brien u.

Clement, 15 Mees. Sr W. 435.

A libel is that which is written or printed, and published, calculated to injure the character of another by bringing him into ridicule, hatred, or contempt.

Gathercole V. Miall, 15 Mees. Sr W. 318, 344.

In a strict sense, libel is taken for a malicious defamation, expressed either in printing or writing; in a larger sense, the notion of libel may be applied to any defamation whatever, expressed either by signs or pictures. Hawk. PI. Cr. It is not necessary that the words should be slanderous to sustain an action for libel. Any publication that tends to degrade or injure the character of a person, or bring him into contempt, hatred, or ridicule, is as much a libel as though it contained charges of infamy or crime.

Johnson v. Stebbins, 5 Ind. 364.

See numerous definitions collected, and remarks upon the difficulty of framing an exhaustive definition of the wrong of libel, in Toims. Sland. 75, § 20. For criticisms on several early definitions as insufficient, see Stark. Stand. 4.

2.

The first formal pleading of the person complaining in a suit in admiralty or in the ecclesiastical courts, corresponding with the declaration at law, the bill in equity, or the complaint or petition in civil actions under the reformed codes, is called the libel. In the spiritual court, a libel is the declaration or written charges on the plaintiff's behalf, in the civil litigation. It consists of three parts: The major proposition, which shows a just cause of the petition; the narration, or minor proposition; the conclusion, or conclusive petition, which conjoins both propositions. In the Scotch law, it is the statement of complaint or grounds of charge, on which either a civil action or criminal prosecution takes place.

Wharton.

The form of a libel is either simple or articulate. The simple form is when the cause of action is stated in a continuous narration, when the cause of action can be briefly set forth. The articulate form is Libel is from the Latin libe Uua, a little book. Hence it signifies — 1. The original declaration of an action in the civil law. {Termes de la Ley; Cowel.) 2. Articles drawn out in a formal allegation in the ecclesiastical court, setting forth the complainant's ground of complaint. (3 Bl. Com. 100; 3 Steph. Com. 314.) 3. The charge on which, in Scotland, a civil or criminal prosecution takes place. {Bdl.) 4. An obscene, blasphemous, or seditious publication, whether by printing, writing, signs, or pictures. (4 Bl. Com. 150, 151; 4 Steph. Com. 259, 260.) 5. A defamatory publication upon a person, by writings, pictures, or the like. All contumacious matter that tends to degrade a man in the opinion of his neighbors, or to make him ridiculous, will, if published, amount to libel. Thus libel differs from slander, in that slander consists in oral defamation only, whereas a libel must consist of matter published; also, the scope of the offence of libel is more extensive than that of slander. Libel may be punished criminally, whereas a person guilty of slander can only be proceeded ag-ainst civilly. (3 Bl. Com. 125, 126; 4 Id. 150, 151; 3 Steph. Com. 381-383; 4 Id. 258.) Mozley Sr W. LIBELLANT; LIBELLEE. The party who files a libel, or the complainant or plaintiff iu au admiralty or ecclesiastical suit, is termed the libellant; the party against whom it is filed, or defendant, is termed the libellee.