Commonwealth v. Morgan
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Indictment, in Suffolk, against Albert Morgan and James N. Smart, alleging that they “ did unlawfully and maliciously compose, write, print and publish, and cause to be composed, written, printed and published in a certain newspaper, printed and published at Boston hi said county of Suffolk by said Moi - gan and Smart, to wit, the Saturday Evening Express,” two libels against Chauncey C. Dean, the first at Boston on September 11, 1870, and the second at Boston on September…
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Indictment, in Suffolk, against Albert Morgan and James N. Smart, alleging that they “ did unlawfully and maliciously compose, write, print and publish, and cause to be composed, written, printed and published in a certain newspaper, printed and published at Boston hi said county of Suffolk by said Moi - gan and Smart, to wit, the Saturday Evening Express,” two libels against Chauncey C. Dean, the first at Boston on September 11, 1870, and the second at Boston on September 18,1870. The indictment set forth the libels, which charged “ State Cop. Dean ” with having acted, while a soldier in the…
1Opinion of the CourtColt, J.
1. The questions raised upon the motion to quash are not insisted upon in the defendant’s argument, and need no consideration.
2. The Commonwealth must prove the application of the words used to the person against whom the libel is directed; and the meaning of the defendant in the language used, when it is ambiguous or consists of expressions not in common use, but having a known meaning among certain persons, may be explained by *202those who know their application. 2 Phil. Ev. (4th Am. ed.) 718, 734 note.
3. The defendant was properly not permitted to show that the person libelled, in…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Commonwealth v. MullenMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1867
- Commonwealth v. HallMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1867
3Cited by52 opinions
- Brown v. WalkerSupreme Court of the United States · 1896
- Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Co. v. PrenticeSupreme Court of the United States · 1893
- People Ex Rel. Price v. Sheffield Farms-Slawson-Decker Co.New York Court of Appeals · 1918
- Commonwealth v. SmithMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1895
- Commonwealth v. CabotMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1922
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