Swindling
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence · Benjamin Vaughan Abbott · 1879
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
Is defined to be cheating and defrauding grossly, with deliberate artifice.
Wyatt v. Ayres, 2 Port. 157.
Swindling is a vague and indefinite term; it does not import a crime.
Hall v. Rogers, 2 Blackf. 429.
The words "swindler," "swindling," &c., have been very lately adopted into the English language, and are as yet of indefinite meaning. They do not, with certainty, import an indictable offence. These terms were imported into this country from England, and into that from Germany. The word swindler means no more than cheat: cheat has always been holden not to be actionable, and swindler means no more.
Stevenson v. Hayden, 2 Mass. 406. s. p. Chase v. Whitlock, 3 Hill (N. Y.), 139.
To call a merchant a swindler is actionable, when said of him in respect to his business, and with intent to charge obtaining goods under false pretences. Herr v. Bamberger.