Bodwell v. Swan
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
This was an action of slander for words spoken by the wife, charging the plaintiff with fornication and adultery. Plea, the general issue.
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This was an action of slander for words spoken by the wife, charging the plaintiff with fornication and adultery. Plea, the general issue. At the trial, which was before Lincoln J., the plaintiff, to fortify the legal presumption of malice arising from the speaking of slanderous words, and as evidence of the malice with which the words laid in the declaration were uttered, offered evidence of the repetition by the wife, of similar slanderous expressions subsequently to the commencement of the action. This evidence was objected to by the defendants, because if such expressions were used, they…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was read as drawn up by
Parker C. J.
It appears to-us that the rejection of evidence offered by the defendants, tending to prove that the words spoken and charges made were true, in order to show that the wife believed what she said to be true, was right.1 It was so settled in Alderman v. French, and upon sound principle. In truth, such evidence would answer all the purposes of the defendant, without exposing him to the just consequences of attempting to justify and failing in the attempt ; and this further mischief would follow, that the notice to the plaintiff of what…
2Cases cited6 opinions
- Wormouth v. CramerNew York Supreme Court · 1829
- Kean v. M'LaughlinSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1816
- Smith v. SnellCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1822
- M'Almont v. M'ClellandSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1826
- Shock v. M'ChesneySupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1799
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