Treat v. Browning
Supreme Court of Connecticut
This was an action of slander, tried at Brooklyn, September term, 1821, before Peters, J. The words laid in the declaration, as spoken, by the defendant, Catharine Browning, of the plaintiff, Eliza S. Treat, were the following: “She had a child in the city of New-York; and her father is supporting it.” “She has been guilty of fornication; and has had a bastard child.”
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This was an action of slander, tried at Brooklyn, September term, 1821, before Peters, J. The words laid in the declaration, as spoken, by the defendant, Catharine Browning, of the plaintiff, Eliza S. Treat, were the following: “She had a child in the city of New-York; and her father is supporting it.” “She has been guilty of fornication; and has had a bastard child.” “She was pregnant with a bastard child; and was, by her parents, carried away from home, for the purpose of concealing her pregnancy, and the birth of the child, of which she was delivered in the city of New-York; and I have…
1Opinion of the Court
Hosmer, Ch. J.
The plaintiff’s declaration contains three sets of words, of precisely the same import; each of them, in substance, comprising the charge of fornication.
1. One Davis, a witness adduced by the defendants, testified to the speaking, by Catharine Browning, of the words alleged, with the prefatory expression, “If I am not misinformed.” The source from whence the imputation originated, whether from the wicked imagination of the speaker, or by information derived from others, has no materiality on a question, which respects the meaning of the words published. If a person utter of…
2Cases cited2 opinions
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