Hayes v. . Ball
New York Court of Appeals
Appeal from judgment of the General Term of the Supreme Court in the third judicial department, affirming a judgment in favor of plaintiff, entered upon a verdict. This was an action for slander, in imputing to plaintiff the crime of larceny. The facts appear sufficiently in the opinion. The words of the defendant did not import the crime of larceny.
Read the full summary
Appeal from judgment of the General Term of the Supreme Court in the third judicial department, affirming a judgment in favor of plaintiff, entered upon a verdict. This was an action for slander, in imputing to plaintiff the crime of larceny. The facts appear sufficiently in the opinion. The words of the defendant did not import the crime of larceny. (2 R. S., 678, § 59 ; People v. Coats, 22 N. Y., 245 ; Van Rensselaer v. Dole, 1 J. Cas., 279.) The overruling of the objection to the question to defendant’s witness, whether any one disputed any item in plaintiff’s account or the correctness of…
1Opinion of the Court
Church, Ch. J.
The motion for a nonsuit was based upon the position that the words proved did not impute a crime, or, at least, not the crime of larceny alleged in the complaint. If it had appeared that when the words were spoken they were accompanied with such an explanation as would make it clear that they referred to an innocent transaction, or to a transaction which, in law, could not have constituted larceny, the motion for a nonsuit should have been granted. So if it had appeared that all the persons who were present understood from facts which they knew, or had otherwise learned, that…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Sheppard v. . SteeleNew York Court of Appeals · 1870
- Phillips v. BarberNew York Supreme Court · 1831
- Maybee v. FiskNew York Supreme Court · 1864
- Van Akin v. CalerNew York Supreme Court · 1866
3Cited by24 opinions
- Merchants' Ins. Co. of Newark v. BucknerCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · 1899
- Williamson v. Askin & Marine Co.Supreme Court of South Carolina · 1926
- Pokrok Zapadu Publishing Co. v. ZizkovskyNebraska Supreme Court · 1894
- Walsh v. Pulitzer Publishing Co.Supreme Court of Missouri · 1913
- Slayton v. HemkenNew York Supreme Court · 1895
19 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.