Gosling v. Morgan
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to the District Court of Allegheny county. This was an action on the case, for slander, by Lucy M. Morgan, by her next friend Maria M. Morgan, against James Gosling.
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Error to the District Court of Allegheny county. This was an action on the case, for slander, by Lucy M. Morgan, by her next friend Maria M. Morgan, against James Gosling. The declaration averred that the defendant, intending to cause it to be suspected and believed that the plaintiff had been and was guilty of obtaining goods by false pretence, on the 1st July 1856, 44 in a certain discourse which the said defendant then and there had, of and concerning the said Lucy M. Morgan, and of and concerning divers goods and chattels, to wit: three pair of corsets of the said defendant, of the value…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by '
Church, J. —
The undisturbed authority of the leading cases of Shaffer v. Kintzer, 1 Binn. 537, McClurg v. Ross, 5 Binn. 218, and Andres v. Koppenheafer, 3 S. & R. 255, establishes the principle, that words spoken of a private person are only actionable when they contain a plain imputation not merely of some indictable offence, but one of an infamous character, or subject to an infamous and disgraceful punishment; and that an innuendo cannot alter, enlarge, or extend their natural and obvious meaning, but only explain something already sufficiently…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Shaffer v. KintzerSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1809
- M'Clurg v. RossSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1812
3Cited by5 opinions
- Commonwealth v. SwallowSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1898
- Pandolfo v. Bank of BensonCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · 1921
- Davis v. CareySupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1891
- Barre Supply Co. v. J. Zabludoff & Sons, Inc., Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County1941
- Bricker v. Flatch, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Bucks County1955