Norton v. Gordon

This was an action on the case for slander, brought by Gordon against Norton. The words laid in the declaration amounted to the charge of perjury. It was a question on the trial, whether the words were proved as laid. The court refused to give this instruction, asked by the defendant : “ Though the words proved are equivalent to the words charged in the declaration, yet not being the same in substance, and though the same idea is conveyed in the words charged and those proved, yet if they contain substantially the same charge but in different phraseology, the plaintiff is not entitled to…