Sheffill v. Van Deusen
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Action of tort for slander. Trial in the court of common pleas, before Briggs, J., who signed this bill of exceptions : “ The words claimed to have been slanderous were spoken, if at all, at the dwelling-house of the defendants, and in that part thereof called the bakery, where bread and other articles were sold to customers; and were spoken by Mrs. Van Deusen to Mrs. Sheffill.
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Action of tort for slander. Trial in the court of common pleas, before Briggs, J., who signed this bill of exceptions : “ The words claimed to have been slanderous were spoken, if at all, at the dwelling-house of the defendants, and in that part thereof called the bakery, where bread and other articles were sold to customers; and were spoken by Mrs. Van Deusen to Mrs. Sheffill. “ The defendants asked the court to instruct the jury that if the words alleged in the plaintiffs’ declaration were spoken to Mrs. Sheffill, and no other person but Mrs. Sheffill and Mrs. Van Deusen were present, there…
1Opinion of the CourtBigelow, J.
Proof of the publication of the defamatory words alleged in the declaration was essential to the maintenance of this action. Slander consists in uttering words to the injury of a person’s reputation. No such injury is done when *305the words are uttered only to the person concerning whom they are spoken, no one else being present or within hearing. It is damage done to character in the opinion of other men, and not in a party’s selfestimation, which constitutes the material element in an action for verbal slander. Even in a civil action for libel, evidence that the defendant wrote and sent a…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Lyle v. ClasonNew York Supreme Court · 1804
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- Lyon v. LashSupreme Court of Kansas · 1906
- Hartmann v. WinchellNew York Court of Appeals · 1947
- United States v. StrandlofCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · 2012
- United States v. StrandlofCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · 2012
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