Martin v. Mellon

OPINION of the Court, by

Judge Logajt.

This was an action of slander, in which there are several counts laid in tile declaration. The first of which charges these words, viz, “ You (meaning the plaintiff) have sworn a damned lie, and I can prove it by Clemens, meaning one Stephen Clemens ; thereby charging the plaintiff with the commission of wilful and corrupt perjury.”

The other counts are in substance the same, but arc laid with a colloquium.

Upon the plea of justification, the defendant moved the court to instruct the jury to disregard the firstcount as faulty and insufficient; which the…