Swindler

A cheat; one guilty of defrauding divers persons.

1 Term 748.

Swindling is usually applied to a transaction where the guilty party procures the delivery to him, under a pretended contract, of the personal property of another, with the felonious design of appropriating it to his own use; 2 Russ. Cr. 130; Stevenson v. Hayden, 2 Mass. 406; as where a purchaser tendered a twenty-dollar gold-piece in payment for goods, supposing it was a silver dollar and the seller knowing his mistake returned him change for a dollar, the offence was held to be swindling; Jones v. Methvin, 97 Ga. 449, 25 S. E. 318. The terms cheat and swindler are not actionable unless spoken of the plaintiff in relation to his business; Odg. Lib. & Sl. 61; Odiorne v. Bacon, 6 Cush. (Mass.) 185; Herr v. Bamberg, 10 How. Pr. (N. Y.) 128. The words "you are living by imposture," spoken of a person with the intention of imputing that he is a swindler, are not actionable per se; 8 C. B. 142.

See Libel.