Ford v. Johnson
Supreme Court of Georgia
Slander. Decision on demurrer by Judge Powers. Worth Superior Court, October Term, 1856. The declaration in this case alleged that defendant called the plaintiff “a God damned rogue, and I can prove it.” Defendant demurred to the declaration on the ground that the words were not actionable. The Court sustained the demurrer and non-suited the plaintiff. To which ^decision plaintiff excepted.
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court.
Benning J.
delivering the opinion.
Were these words actionable, per se?
They were if they imputed an offence. Saunders Pl. & Ev. vol. 2. pt. 2, 898.
The common law does not say that a rogue is a criminal, and therefore it is not slander by the common law to call a man a rogue. Stark. Sland. 24.
Tried by the common law, then, these words do not impute any offence.
Do they impute an offence when tried by the statute law ?
There is, I believe, but one part of the statute law that bears upon the question, and that is. the 23d section of the 10th division of the Penal Code, a section which…
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