Any person who shall with malicious intent originate, utter, circulate or publish any false statement or matter concerning another the effect of which shall tend to injure such person in his character or reputation shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction therefor, be subject to punishment by fine not to exceed five thousand dollars or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or by both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court; provided, that nothing herein shall be construed to abridge any right any person may have by way of an action for damages for libel or slander under the existing law.
S.C. Code Ann. § 16-7-150
Slander and libel
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case 779 F. Supp. 1502 - Fitts v. Kolb (1991)
Most recently applied in Parmelee v. O'Neel (June 2008)
1962 Code SECTION 16-161; 1952 Code SECTION 16-161; 1942 Code SECTION 1395; 1932 Code SECTION 1395; Cr
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: South Carolina Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Carolina statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.