Edsall v. Brooks
The Superior Court of New York City
This action was to recover damages for a libel upon the plaintiff, published-in the ¡New York -Evening Express, of which the defendants are the-editors and proprietors. The alleged libel--is -in the following words: “ Black-mailing Jry a Policeman.—Isaac W. Edsall, of the twenty-sixth precinct, City Hall police, has been dismissed from the police department by the commissioners, on charges of black-mail preferred against him by citizens in three distinct cases.”
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This action was to recover damages for a libel upon the plaintiff, published-in the ¡New York -Evening Express, of which the defendants are the-editors and proprietors. The alleged libel--is -in the following words: “ Black-mailing Jry a Policeman.—Isaac W. Edsall, of the twenty-sixth precinct, City Hall police, has been dismissed from the police department by the commissioners, on charges of black-mail preferred against him by citizens in three distinct cases.” The answer of the defendants, after admitting the publication of the alleged libel, sets out the entire article, of which the…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court.*—Monell, J.
Independently of the statute of 1854 (Laws of 1854, 314, ch. 130), the publication of a judicial trial, fairly reported and without express malice, is not actionable. The statute is not, therefore, in aid of the common law, but a mere legislative enactment of it. While the statute protects the editor of a newspaper from an action, for a fair and true report of any judicial, legislative, or other public official proceeding, except upon proof of actual malice, it expressly withholds its protection for any libellous comments or remarks superadded to or interspersed or…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Thomas v. CroswellNew York Supreme Court · 1810
- Weed v. FosterNew York Supreme Court · 1851
3Cited by14 opinions
- Hamilton v. . EnoNew York Court of Appeals · 1880
- Horton v. Georgian Co.Supreme Court of Georgia · 1932
- American Publishing Co. v. GambleTennessee Supreme Court · 1905
- Ilsley v. Sentinel Co.Wisconsin Supreme Court · 1907
- Lawyers' Co-operative Publishing Co. v. West Publishing Co.Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · 1898
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