Runkle v. Meyer
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Libel. The defendants published on the 19th September 1800, in the York Gazette, a paper in the German language, at the instance of George Gregor by name, reflecting on the character of the plaintiff, a clergyman of the reformed church of Heidelberg.
Read the full summary
Libel. The defendants published on the 19th September 1800, in the York Gazette, a paper in the German language, at the instance of George Gregor by name, reflecting on the character of the plaintiff, a clergyman of the reformed church of Heidelberg. It charged him among other things, “with having “got a cudgelling in Virginia from an inhabitant, whom he “persuaded that it was not right .to sleep every night with his “wife; that she lay alone, and Runkle took the opportunity and “ came into her room; that the wife gave her husband a sign, “and he apprehended him in his roguery and beat him…
1Opinion of the Court
After a long trial, wherein the depositions and examination of forty witnesses were read and given, the defendant’s counsel insisted, that printing presses could not be free in this state, according to the provisions of the constitution, if printers could be punished for a publication, inserted at the instance of a person, whom they named in their paper, and who paid for it in the usual course of business. Pennsylvania Constitution, art. 9, sec. 7. They were only responsible in cases where they withheld the real authors, against whom the suit should be brought. Libelling was a species of…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Respublica v. OswaldSupreme Court of the United States · 1788
- Barr v. MooreSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1878
- Lesher v. GehrSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1788
3Cited by12 opinions
- Doe v. Methodist HospitalIndiana Supreme Court · 1997
- Barr v. MooreSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1878
- Perret v. New Orleans Times NewspaperSupreme Court of Louisiana · 1873
- Tillson v. RobbinsSupreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1878
- Oles v. Pittsburg TimesSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1896
7 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.