Hastings v. Stetson
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tout, in five counts, for slander, in accusing the plaintiff of the crimes of adultery and fornication. Answer, a general denial.
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Tout, in five counts, for slander, in accusing the plaintiff of the crimes of adultery and fornication. Answer, a general denial. At the trial in the Superior Court, before Bacon, J., the evidence tended to show that the words complained of in the first count of the declaration were spoken by the defendant to the brother of the plaintiff, in the presence of a number of persons, during an angry altercation between the brother and the defendant; that the words complained of in the second count were spoken by the defendant, to the father of the plaintiff, in a public place, in the hearing of a…
1Opinion of the CourtGray, C. J.
It is too well settled, to be now questioned, that one who utters a slander is not responsible, either as on a distinct cause of action or by way of aggravation of damages of the original slander, for its voluntary and unjustifiable repetition, without his authority or request, by others over whom he has no control, and who thereby make themselves liable to the person slandered; and that such repetition cannot be considered in law a necessary, natural or probable consequence of the original slander. Ward v. Weeks, 4 Moore & Payne, 796; S. C. 7 Bing. 211. Tunnicliffe v. Moss, 3 Car. & K. 83.…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Terwilliger v. . WandsNew York Court of Appeals · 1858
3Cited by15 opinions
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- Burkett v. GriffithCalifornia Supreme Court · 1891
- Clifford v. Atlantic Cotton MillsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1888
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