Youmans v. . Smith
New York Court of Appeals
Appeal from a judgment of the General Term of the Supreme Court in the fourth judicial department, entered May 31,1895, which affirmed a judgment in favor of plaintiff entered, upon a verdict, and also affirmed an order denying a motion for a new trial. Pending the appeal to the Court of Appeals the plaintiff died, and his administrators were duly substituted as respondents.
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Appeal from a judgment of the General Term of the Supreme Court in the fourth judicial department, entered May 31,1895, which affirmed a judgment in favor of plaintiff entered, upon a verdict, and also affirmed an order denying a motion for a new trial. Pending the appeal to the Court of Appeals the plaintiff died, and his administrators were duly substituted as respondents. This action was commenced in May, 1890, by William You-mans, a practicing attorney residing in the village of Delhi, against the defendants, who published a newspaper and carried on a printing business at the same place,…
1Opinion of the CourtYank, J.
The appellants do not deny that the jury could lawfully find the words in question to be libelous, but they contend that they were not published, within the meaning of the law relating to the subject, and that, even if published, they were privileged.
An action to recover damages for libel cannot be maintained upon proof simply that the libelous words were composed and were in existence as written or printed matter, without being known to any one except the author and the victim. Unless communicated to some third person no damage, either actual or presumed, can result. • As said by a learned…
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