March v. Davison
New York Court of Chancery
This case came before the court upon a demurrer to the complainant’s bill of discovery. The defendant had sued the complainant in an action of slander, for charging the defendant with having killed a woman in Schoharie, and of malpractice as a cancer doctor.
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This case came before the court upon a demurrer to the complainant’s bill of discovery. The defendant had sued the complainant in an action of slander, for charging the defendant with having killed a woman in Schoharie, and of malpractice as a cancer doctor. And the complainant had in that suit pleaded the general issue and given notice with his plea that he would give in evidence, upon the trial, in bar of the action and in justification of the alleged slander, that Davison was not a regular physician or surgeon, nor was he licenced to practice as such, but that he had holden himself out to…
1Opinion of the Court
The Chancellor.
The bill in this case is defective in form. For the complainant merely states the defence which he has put in to the defendant’s actions of slander, but does not charge, either upon information and belief or otherwise, that all or any of the matters specified in the notice of justification annexed to his plea, in the action at law, are true in point of fact. It is not necessary, in a mere bill of discovery, for the complainant to aver that he cannot otherwise establish his defence at law; and the head note to the contrary in the case of Leggett v. Postley, (2 Paige, 599,) is…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Commonwealth v. ThompsonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1809
- Leggett v. PostleyNew York Court of Chancery · 1831
3Cited by32 opinions
- White v. . CarrollNew York Court of Appeals · 1870
- State v. CatellierWyoming Supreme Court · 1947
- Colgate v. Compagnie Francaise du Telegraphs de Paris a New YorkU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern New York · 1885
- Bailey v. DeanNew York Supreme Court · 1848
- Robson v. DoyleIllinois Supreme Court · 1901
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