Bassil v. Elmore
New York Supreme Court
THIS action is for damages sustained by the plaintiff by reason of slanderous words spoken by the defendant. There are two counts in the complaint.
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THIS action is for damages sustained by the plaintiff by reason of slanderous words spoken by the defendant. There are two counts in the complaint. The first charges that the defendant, on the 1st of July, 1862, and on divers other days during the months of July, August and September, in the same year, uttered and published of and concerning the plaintiff, that she was a public whore, by reason whereof she was turned away from the house of her uncle, with whom she had lived, and by whom she had been brought up and supported. The second count is for uttering the same words, in August and…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court, Mullin, J.
As many of the questions raised on the trial are not relied on by the defendant’s counsel in his points on the argument of the appeal, it will be more intelligible to follow these points, and to examine them in the order they are presented.
The first point is, that the second count in the complaint is defective, as it contained no averment of special damages, and no proof could be given under it.
When this question arose, the plaintiff’s counsel had examined the first witness to a conversation with the defendant in the spring of 1862, in which the defendant said that the…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Tobias v. HarlandNew York Supreme Court · 1830
- Retan v. DrewNew York Supreme Court · 1838
3Cited by3 opinions
- Reporters' Ass'n of America v. Sun Printing & Publishing Ass'nNew York Court of Appeals · 1906
- McDuff v. Detroit Evening Journal Co.Michigan Supreme Court · 1890
- Ward v. DeaneNew York Supreme Court · 1890