Beirer v. Bushfield
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
ERROR to Westmoreland county. This was an action of slander, in which Samuel Bushfield was plaintiff, and David Beirer was defendant. The words laid in the declaration to have been spoken were, “he was guilty with a woman, for he went into bed with Mrs Kislar, and stroked her, and he could prove it“ thereby meaning that he, the. said Samuel, had committed the crime of adultery with the wife of the said John Kislar.”
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ERROR to Westmoreland county. This was an action of slander, in which Samuel Bushfield was plaintiff, and David Beirer was defendant. The words laid in the declaration to have been spoken were, “he was guilty with a woman, for he went into bed with Mrs Kislar, and stroked her, and he could prove it“ thereby meaning that he, the. said Samuel, had committed the crime of adultery with the wife of the said John Kislar.” It was no where stated that the plaintiff was a married man. The praecipe, by which the action originated, was dated the 2d July; the writ issued on the 4th July; and the words…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Gibson, C. J.
The objection is, that the innuendo has carried the meaning of the words beyond their natural import, by converting them into a charge of adultery by a man who is not alleged to have been married. The office of an innuendo is undoubtedly to fix the meaning of the speaker, by a reference to something gone before, where the abstract sense of the words would otherwise fall short of an imputation of legal criminality; and itis a rule, that where it enlarges the meaning without such a reference to an imputation which might subject the accused…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Andres v. KoppenheaferSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1817
- Walton v. SingletonSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1821
3Cited by6 opinions
- Hudson v. GarnerSupreme Court of Missouri · 1856
- Brown v. WintschMissouri Court of Appeals · 1904
- Biggs v. FunkSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1836
- Herst v. BorbidgeSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1868
- State v. MottSupreme Court of New Jersey · 1883
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