State v. . Townsend
Supreme Court of North Carolina
Indictment for libel, removed from Catawba and tried at Fall Term, 1881, of Caldwell Superior Court, before Seymour, J. The defendant is charged with libel on one P. C. Henkel, the prosecutor. The indictment contains but one count in which there are but two specifications of libellous matter as -contained in a printed card published by the defendant.
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Indictment for libel, removed from Catawba and tried at Fall Term, 1881, of Caldwell Superior Court, before Seymour, J. The defendant is charged with libel on one P. C. Henkel, the prosecutor. The indictment contains but one count in which there are but two specifications of libellous matter as -contained in a printed card published by the defendant. The first is that he published of and concerning the prosecutor matters “ according to the tenor and effect following, that is to say: It is true P. C. Henkel has been shaking his' coon skin in the church paper, and in many other ways endeavoring…
1Opinion of the CourtRuffin, J.
We fully concur in the opinion expressed by His Honor, that the matter contained in the card and copied into the indictment, is libellous in its nature.
Its tendency to degrade the prosecutor and render him odious, is patent; and therein it comes-fully up to the requirements laid down by the authors when defining the offence of -libel. Sterner rules are applied to written or printed defamation than to verbal slander, because of the deliberation with which it is perpetrated, and the more permanent and extended consequences attending it.
But it is needless to elaborate this part of the case,…
2Cited by4 opinions
- Smith v. StateSupreme Court of Florida · 1892
- Gillikin v. BellSupreme Court of North Carolina · 1961
- State v. DavisMissouri Court of Appeals · 1908
- Whitaker v. . FreemanU.S. Circuit Court for the District of North Carolina · 1826