o ■BOWl il W W g l l iflJ I I III W MW'WWB ' ii li Jj I W II 'l l W i MIJUUMW P IHWi J Ma 'aBW STATUTES AND CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS OF The States and TeMtoMes of the IJnitd Elites AND The Statates of Englatid, ON LIBEL AND SLANDER, With SuGaesrioNS of Amendments. BY AZEL. F. HATCH, A.B. OJornfU ffiam ^rliaal Htbrarg Cornell University Library KF9345.A41895 Statutes and constitutional provisions o 3 1924 020 153 304 The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924020153304 STATUTES AND CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS OF Tlje States and Territories of the United States AND The Statutes of England^ ON LIBKL AND SLANDER With Suggestions of amendments. AZEL F. HATCH, A. B., Attorney at Law. COMPILED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF, AND PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS' ASSOCIATION. 322 POTTER BUILDING, NEW YORK. Press of Eagle Book Printing Department, Brooklyn, N. Y. ^'^/66: PREFACE. This book has been prepared for the purpose of showing the chaotic condition of the statutes on libel and slander in the United States. It is intended also to show how meager are the statutes of many of the states on this subject and how slightly they modify the common law of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It will serve a useful purpose if it shall be instrumental in emphasizing the absurdity of applying to a free press among a free people and in the age of the telegraph, the press association and the modern newspaper, the rules of the Star Chamber, promul- gated for the purpose of suppressing public discussion in an age when the daily newspaper was unknown. If it shall suggest amendments tending to a clear and explicit statement of the law, or tending to remove some of the fictions, absurdities and wrongs of the common law as applied to modern publications, or tending more surely to punish the malicious de- famer while opening the door to every meritorious defense of the honorable publisher, I shall be amply repaid for the labor be- stowed upon it. AZEL F. HATCH. Chicago, January, 1895. CONTENTS. PAGE Alabama i Arizona 5 Arkansas 7 California 10 Colorado 16 Connecticut 18 Delaware 19 District of Columbia 20 Florida 21 Georgia .' 23 Idaho 26 Illinois 29 Indiana 30 Iowa 32 Kansas 35 Kentucky 37 Louisiana 40 Maine 42 Maryland 44 Massachusetts 45 Michigan ,. 47 Minnesota 50 Mississippi 56 Missouri , 57 Montana ' 59 Nebraska 61 Nevada 63 New Hampshire 64 New Jersey 65 New Mexico 67 New York , 68 V VI CONTENTS. PAGE North Carolina 75 North Dakota 76 Ohio 80 Oklahoma 82 Oregon 86 Pennsylvania 89 Rhode Island 91 South Carolina : 92 South Dakota 93 Tennessee 97 Texas 99 Utah 109 Vermont .' 1 1 1 Virginia 112 Washington 113- West Virginia 115 Wisconsin 116 Wyoming 118 Statutes of England 121 Suggestions of Amendment to the Laws of Libel and Slander 141 ALABAMA. CONSTITUTION, 1875. ARTICLE I. Sec. 5. — That any citizen may speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. Sec. 13. — That in' prosecutions for the publication of papers investigating the official conduct of officers or men in public capacity, or when the matter published is proper for public infor- mation, the truth thereof may be given in evidence ; arid that in all indictments for libel the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the Court. CODE OF ALABAMA. REVISION OF 1887. VOLUME II.— CRIMINAL CODE. PART 5, TITLE 3, CHAPTER 3. ARTICLE III. Sec. 3769. — Sending threatening or abusive letters. Any person who sends to another a threatening or abusive letter, which may tend to provoke a breach of the peace, must be punished, on con- viction, by fine and imprisonment in the 'county jail, or hard labor for the county ; the fine not to exceed in any case five hundred dollars, and the imprisonment or hard labor not to exceed six months. ALABAMA. ARTICLE V. Sec. 3771. — Libel and defamation. Any person who publishes a libel of another which may tend to provoke a breach of the peace, must be punished, on conviction, by fine and imprisonment in the county jail, or hard labor for the county ; the fine not to exceed in any case five hundred dollars, and the imprisonment or hard labor not to exceed six months. Sec. 3772. — Indictment for libel. An indictment for libel need not set forth any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the party libeled of the defamatory matter on which the indictment is founded ; it is sufficient to state generally that the same was published concerning him, and the fact that it was so published must be proved at the trial. Sec. 3773. — Defamation. Any person who writes, prints, or speaks of and concerning any woman, falsely and maliciously im- puting to her a want of chastity ; and any person who speaks, writes or prints of and concerning another any accusation, falsely and maliciously importing the commission by such person of a felony or any other indictable offense involving moral turpitude, must, on conviction, be punished by fine not exceeding five hun- dred dollars, and imprisonment in the county jail, or sentenced to hard labor for the county not exceeding six months ; one or both, at the discretion of the jury. Sec. 3774. — Refusal to testify byprinter of libel or defamation. The printer or proprietor of any newspaper, handbill, advertise- ment or libel, the publication of which is punishable under the preceding section, who refuses, when summoned, to appear and testify before either the grand or petit jury, respecting the publi- cation of such newspaper, handbill, advertisement or libel (not having a good excuse, to be determined by the Court), is guilty of contempt, and also of a misdemeanor ; and, on conviction; for such misdemeanor, must be fined not less than twenty, nor more than three hundred dollars, and may also be imprisoned in the county jail, or sentenced to hard labor for the county, for not more than six months. VOLUME I.— CIVIL CODE. t PART 1, TITLE 9, CHAPTER 4. ARTICLE II. Sec. 756. — Provides that circuit courts have jurisdiction of, among others, actions of libel and slander. ALABAMA. PART 1, TITLE 9, CHAPTER 8. ARTICLE I. Sec. 839. — Provides that justices of the peace have no jurisdic- tion of SiUch actions. PART 3, TITLE 1, CHAPTER 2. Sec, 2619. — Limitation of one year. Within one year 4. Actions of libel and slander. PART 3, TITLE 1, CHAPTER 5. Sec. 2666. — Complaint for defamation. No colloquium or in- nuendo is necessary in actions for defarriation ; it is sufficient to state in the complaint that the defendant falsely and maliciously charged the plaintiff with perjury, larceny, or other crime, or as the case may be, in substance as follows, setting it out. PART 3, TITLE 1, CHAPTER 8. Sec. 2724. — Defamation. Truth of charges against public men may be proved. In civil actions for the publication of papers, investigating the official conduct of officers or men in public capacity, or when the matter published is proper for public information, the truth there- of may be given in evidence. Sec. 2725. — Truth of the words, etc., evidence under the general issue. In all actions of slander or libel, the truth of the words, spoken or written, or the circumstances under which they were spoken or written, may be given in evidence under the general issue in mitigation of the damages. Sec. 2726. — Import of words. Every accusation of falsfe swear- ing presumptively imports a charge of perjury, and every accusa- tion importing the commission of a crime punishable by indictment must be held presumptively to mean what the language used ordi- narily imports. Sec. 2727. — Charges of unchastity, actionable. Any words, written, spoken or printed, of any woman, married or unmarried, falsely imputing to her a want of, chastity, are actionable without proof of special damages. Sec. 2728. — Retraction mitigates damages. The defendant in an action of slander or libel may prove, under the general issue .in mitigation of damages, that the charge was made by mistake or through inadvertence, and that he has retracted the charge and offered amends before suit, by publishing an apology in a news- ALABAMA. paper, when the charges had been thus promulgated ; or verbally, in the presence of witnesses, when the accusation was verbal or written, and had offered to certify the same in writing. Sec. 2729. — Recantation and tender, effect of. — If the defendant, after or before suit brought, makes the recantation and amends recited in the preceding section, and also tender to the plaintiff a compensation in money, and bring the same into court ; the plaint- iff can recover no costs, if the jury believe and find that the tender was sufficient. Sec. 2730. — Effect of tender received. The receipt of the money tendered, if before suit brought, is a bar to the action ; if after suit, releases the defendant from all damages and costs, except the costs which accrued before the tender and receipt of the money. PART 4, TITLE 2. Sec. 16. — For slander. A. B., plaintiff, vs. C. D., defendant. The plaintiff claims of the defendant dollars, damages for falsely and maliciously charging the plaintiff with perjury (or larceny, as the case may be), by speaking of and concern- ing him in the presence of divers persons, in substance as^follows: (Here set out the defamatory language), viz., on the day of E. F., Att'y for plt'f. Sec. 17. — For libel. A. B., plaintiff, vs. C. D., defendant. ■ The plaintiff claims of the defendant dollars, damages for falsely and maliciously publishing of and concerning him in a newspaper published at called (or book, or writing, as the case may be), the following matter, with intent to de- fame the plaintiff, viz.: (Here set out the language charged as libelous), on the day of E. F., Att'y for plt'f. ARIZONA. ARIZONA. REVISED STATUTES OF ARIZONA, 1887. PENAL CODE. TITLE 8, CHAPTER 10. LIBEL. Sec. 404. — A libel is : 1. Any malicious falsehood expressed by writing, printing, or by signs, or pictures, which tends to bring any person into dis- repute, contempt or ridicule. 2. Any malicious defamation expressed either by writing, print- ing, or by signs or pictures or the like, tending to blacken the memory of one who is dead, or to impeach the honesty, integrity, virtue or reputation, or publish the natural or alleged defects of one who is alive, and thereby to expose him to public hatred, con- tempt or ridicule. Sec. 405. — Every person who wilfully, and with a malicious in- tent to injure another, publishes, or procures to be published, any libel, is punishable by fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or imprisonment in the territorial prison not exceeding one year. Sec. 406. — An injurious publication is presumed to have been malicious if no justifiable motive for making it is shown. Sec. 407. — In all criminal prosecutions for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it appears to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted. The jury have the right to determine the law and the fact. Sec. 408. — To sustain the charge of publishing a libel, it is not needful that the words or things complained of should have been read or seen by another. It is enough that the accused knowingly parted with the immediate custody of the libel, under circum- stances which exposed it to be read or seen by any other person than himself. Sec. 409. — Each author, editor and proprietor of any book. ARIZONA. newspaper or serial publication, is chargeable with the publication of any words contained in any part of such book, or number of such newspaper or serial. Sec. 410. — No reporter, editor, or proprietor of any newspaper is liable to any prosecution for a fair and true report of any ju- dicial, legislative or other public official proceedings, or of any statement, speech, argument or debate in the course of the same, except upon proof of malice in making such report, which shall not be implied from the mere fact of publication. Sec. 411. — Libelous remarks or comments connected with mat- ter privileged by the last section receive no privilege by reason of their being so connected. Sec. 412. — A communication, made by a person interested in the communication, by one who was also interested, or who stood in such relation to the former as to afford reasonable ground for supposing his motive innocent, is not presumed to be malicious, and is a privileged, communication. Sec 413. — Every person who threatens another to publish a libel concerning him, or any parent, husband, wife or child of such person, or member of his family, and every person who offers to prevent the publication of any libel upon another person, with intent to extort any money or other valuable consideration from any person, is guilty of a misdemeanor.' PENAL CODE.— PART II. OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE. TITLE 7, CHAPTER 3. , Sec. 147 1. — An indictment or information for libel or slander need not set forth any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the party libeled or slandered of the false and defamatory matter on which the indictment or information is founded ; but it is sufficient to state generally that the same was published or spoken concerning him, and the fact that it was so published or spoken must be established on the trial. REVISED STATUTES OF ARIZONA. TITLE 44, CHAPTER 2. Sec. 2309. — Limitations of personal actions. There shall be com- menced and prosecuted in one year after the cause of action shall ARKANSAS. 7 have accrued, and not afterward, all actions or suits, in court, of the following description: 2. Actions for * * * qj. foj. injuries done to the character or reputation of another by libel or slander. ARKANSAS. CONSTITUTION, 1874. ARTICLE II. Sec. 6. — The liberty of the press shall forever remain invio- late. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man, and all persons may freely write and publish their sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of such right. In all criminal prosecutions for libel the truth may be given in evidence to the jury ; and, if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published for good motives and for justifiable ends, the party charged shall be ac- quitted. DIGEST OF STATUTES. SANDELS & HILL, 1894. CRIMINAL LAW CHAPTER 48. Sec. 1723. — ZiM. A libel is a malicious defamation, expressed either by wfi-ting, printing, or by signs or pictures or the like, tending to blacken the memory of one who is dead, or to impeach the honesty, integrity, veracity, virtue or reputation, or to publish the natural defects of one who is living, and thereby expose him to public hatred, contempt and ridicule. Sec. 1724. — Every person, whether writer, printer or publisher, convicted of the crime of libel, shall be fined in any sum not exceeding five thousand dollars, and may also be imprisoned not exceeding one year. Sec. 1725. — In all prosecutions for libel, under the provisions of the preceding section, the truth thereof may be given in evidence in justification. ARKANSAS. Sec. 1726. — If any person shall, in any newspaper, or hand- bill, or other advertisement, printed or written, publish or pro- claim any other person as a coward, or use any other opprobrious or abusive language for not accepting a challenge to fight a duel, or for not fighting a duel, such person, on conviction, shall be fined in any sum not less than three hundred dollars, nor more than one thousand dollars, or be imprisoned in the penitentiary at hard labor for a term of not less than two months or more than one year, or both fine and imprisonment. The publisher or printer of any newspaper, hand-bill, or other publication may be summoned as a witness, and shall be required to testify against the writer of such hand-bill or publication, and if any such publisher or printer shall refuse to testify in relation to the premises, either before the grand or petit jury, or any judicial officer, he shall be deemed guilty of a flagrant contempt of court, and may be punished by fine and imprisonment, or either ; provided, however, that the testimony given by any such witness shall in no case be used in any prosecution or civil suit against such witness. Sec. 1727. — islander. If any person shall falsely use, utter, or publish words which, in their common acceptation, shall amount to charge any person with having been guilty of fornication or adultery, such words, so spoken, shall be deemed slander, and shall be actionable and indictable as such. Sec. 1728. — It shall be deemed slander and shall be actionable to charge any person with swearing falsely, or with having sworn falsely, or for using, uttering, and publishing words of, to, or con- cerning any person, which, in their common acceptation, amount to such charge, whether the words be spoken in conversation of and concerning a judicial proceeding or not. Sec. 1729. — It shall be. deemed slander to falsely use, utter or ■ publish words which, in their common acceptation, shall amount to charge any person with having been guilty of any other crime or misdemeanor not mentioned in this act, or to charge any per- son with having been guilty of any dishonest business or official conduct or transaction, the effect of which charge would be to injure the credit or business standing, or to bring into digrepute the good name or character of such person so slandered, and such words so spoken shall be actionable, and the person so falsely publishing, speaking or uttering the same shall be deemed guilty of slander, and punished accordingly. Sec. 1730. — No indictment shall be found under this act except ARKANSAS. at the instance, or by consent, of the person slandered, or his legal representative. Sec. 1731. — Upon the trial of any person for the crime of slander, he shall be allowed to give in evidence the truth of the words charged in the indictment to have been spoken by him. Sec. 1732. — Nothing in this act contained shall be so construed as to prevent any person slandered from bringing and maintain- ing a civil suit against any person committing such slander for damages. Sec. 1733. — All presentments made under this act must be made within twelve months from the date of uttering or publish- ing such slander. Sec. 1734. — Slander shall be a crime ; and any person who shall hereafter be found guilty of the crime of slander shall, upon conviction thereof, be imprisoned in the penitentiary, at hard labor, for a term of not less than six months nor more than three years, or fined not less than fifty nor more than three thousand dollars, or both fine and imprisonment maybe imposed ; and any person so convicted and punished by fine only, if such fine be not paid at once, shall be confined in the penitentiary, at hard labor, until such fine be paid, at the rate of two dollars per day. CHAPTER 49. Sec. 2084. — An indictment for libel need not set forth any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application, to the party libelled, of the defamatory matter ; but it is sufficient to state generally that the same was published concerning him. CHAPTER 100. Sec. 4822. — The following actions shall be commenced within three years after the cause of action shall accrue, and not after : 2. All actions for trespass on lands and for libels. Sec. 4823. — The following actions shall be commenced within one year after the cause of action shall accrue, and not after : ******* 2. All actions for words spoken slandering the character of another. 3. All words spoken whereby special damages are sustained. CHAPTER 119. Sec. S7S^- — ^^ ^" action for libel or slander it shall not be necessary to state in the complaint any extrinsic facts for the lO CALIFORNIA. purpose of showing the application to the plaintiff of the defam- atory matter out of which the cause of action arose ; but it shall be sufiScient to state generally that the same was published or spoken concerning the plaintiff ; and if such allegation is not con- troverted, as stated in Sec. 5756 in regard to judgments, it shall not be necessary to prove it on trial. Sec. 5759. — In the actions mentioned in the last section the defendant may, in his answer, allege both the truth of the matter charged as defamatory and any mitigating circumstances, legally admissible in evidence, to reduce the amount of damages, and, whether he proves the justification or not, he may give in evidence the mitigating circumstances. Sec. 5909. — Nothing in the preceding section shall be so con- strued as to extend its provisions to actions of slander or libel. (Note. — The preceding section provides that actions for per- sonal wrongs may survive.) CALIFORNIA. CONSTITUTION, 1879. LAW OF LIBEL. ARTICLE I. Sec. 9. — Liberty of speech and of the press. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In criminal prosecutions for libels, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury ; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published for good motives and justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted ; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact. In- dictments found, or information laid, for publications in newspapers shall be tried in the county where such newspapers have their publication office, or in the county where the party alleged to be libelled resides at the time of the alleged publication, unless the place of trial shall be changed for good cause. CALIFORNIA. 1 1 DEERING'S CODES AND STATUTES OF CALIFORNIA, 1885. PENAL CODE. PART 1, TITLE 8, CHAPTER 10. LIBEL. Sec. 248. — Libel defined. A libel is a malicious defamation, expressed either by writing, printing, or by signs or pictures, or the like, tending to blacken the memory of one who is dead, or to impeach the honesty, integrity, virtue or reputation, or publish the natural or alleged defects of one who is alive, and thereby to expose him to public hatred, contempt or ridicule. Sec. 249. — Punishment of libel. Every person who wilfully, and with malicious intent to injure another, publishes or procures to be published any libel, is punishable by fine not exceeding five thousand (5,000) dollars, or by imprisonment' in the county jail not exceeding one year. Sec. 250. — Malice presumed. An injurious publication is pre- sumed to have been malicious if no justifiable motive for making it is shown. Sec. 251. — Truth may be given in evidence. In all criminal prosecutions for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it appears to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted. The jury have the right to determine the law and the fact. Sec. 252. — Publication defined. To sustain a charge of publish- ing a libel, it is not needful that the words or things complained of should have been read or seen by another. It is enough that the accused knowingly parted with the immediate custody of the libel under circumstances which exposed it to be read or seen by any other person than himself. Sec. 253. — Liability of editors and publishers. Each author, edi- tor, and proprietor of any book, newspaper, or serial publication, is chargeable with the publication of any words contained in any part of such book, or number of such newspaper or serial. Sec. 254. — Publishing a true report of public official proceedings privileged. No reporter, editor, or proprietor of any newspaper is liable for any prosecution for a fair and true report of any judicial, legislative, or other public official proceeding, or of any statement, 12 CALIFORNIA. speech, argument or debate in the course of the same, except upon proof of malice in making such report, which shall not be implied from the mere fact of publication. Sec. 255. — Extent of prwilege. Libelous remarks or comment connected with matter privileged by the last section receive no privilege by reason of their being so connected. Sec. 256. — Other privileged communications. A communication made to a person interested in the communication by one who is also interested, or who stood in such relation to the former as to afford a reasonable ground for supposing his motive innocent, is not presumed to be malicious, and is a privileged communication. Sec. 257. — Threatening to publish libel. Every person who threat- ens another to publish a libel concerning him, or any parent, hus- band, wife or child of such person, or member of his family, and every person who offers to prevent the publication of any libel up- on another person, with intent to extort any money or other val- uable consideration from any person, is guilty of a misdemeanor. PART 2, TITLE 6, CHAPTER 2. Sec. 964. — Pleading in indictment for libel. An indictment or in- formation for libel need not set forth any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the party libeled of the de- famatory matter on which the indictment or information is founded, but it is sufficient to state generally that the same was published concerning him ; and -the fact that it was so published must be established on the trial. PART 2, TITLE 7, CHAPTER 2. Sec. 1125. — On trial for libel, jury to determine law and fact. On a trial for libel, the jury has the right to determine the law and the fact. PART 2, TITLE 7, CHAPTER 4. Sec. 1150. — Verdict may be general or special. The jury may render a general verdict, or, when they are in doubt as to the legal effect of the facts proved, they may, except upon a trial for libel, find a special verdict. CIVIL CODE. DIVISION 1, PART 2. Sec. 43. — General personal rights.' Besides the personal rights mentioned or recognized in the political code, every person has CALIFORNIA. 1 3 subject to the qualifications and restrictions provided by law, the right of protection from bodily restraint or harm, from personal insult, from defamation, and from injury to his personal relations. Sec. 44. — Defamation, what. Defamation is effected by : 1. Libel. 2. Slander. Sec. 45. — Libel, what. Libel is a false and unprivileged pub- lication by writing, printing, picture, effigy or other fixed repre- sentation to the eye, which exposes any person to hatred, con- tempt, ridicule, or obloquy, or which causes him to be shunned or avoided, or which has a tendency to injure him in his occupation. Sec. 46. — Slander, what. Slander is a false and unprivileged publication, other than libel, which : 1. Charges any person with crime, or with having been indicted, convicted, or punished for crime ; 2. Imputes in him the present existence of an infectious, con- tagious, or loathsome disease ; 3. Tends directly to injure him in respect to his office, profes- sion, trade, or business, either by imputing to him general disquali- fication in those respects which the office or other occupation peculiarly requires, or by imputing something with reference to his office, profession, trade, or business that has a natural tendency to lessen its profits ; 4. Imputes to him impotence or a want of chastity ; or, 5. Which, by natural consequence, causes actual damage. Sec. 47 — What publications are privileged. A privileged publica- tion is one made : 1. In the proper discharge of an official duty ; 2. In any legislative or judicial proceeding, or in any other official proceeding authorized by law ; 3. In a communication, without knowledge, to a person inter- ested therein, by one who is also interested, or by one who stands in such a relation to the person interested as to afford a reasonable ground for supposing the motive for the communication innocent, or who is requested by the person interested to give the informa- tion ; 4. By a fair and true report, without malice, of a judicial, legis- lative, or other public official proceeding, or of anything said in the course thereof. Sec. 48. — Malice not inferred. In the cases provided for in Sub- divisions 3 and 4 of the preceding section, malice is not inferred from a communication or publication. 14 CALIFORNIA. CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. PART 2, TITLE 2, CHAPTER 3. Sec. 340. — Provides that, among others, actions for libel and slander rrfust be. brought within one year. PART 3, TITLE 6, CHAPTER 7. Sec. 460. — Zidel and Slander, how stated in complaint. In an action for libel or slander, it is not necessary to state in the complaint any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the appli- cation to the plaintiff of the defamatory matter out of which the cause of action arose ; but it is sufficient to state, generally, that the same was published or spoken concerning the plaintiff ; and if such allegations be controverted, the plaintiff must establish on the trial that it was published or spoken. Sec. 461. — Answer in such cases. In the action mentioned in the last section the defendant may, in his answer, allege both the truth of the matter charged as defamatory, and any mitigating cir- cumstances, to reduce the amount of damages ; and whether he proves the justification or not, he may give in evidence the miti- gating circumstances. AN ACT CONCERNING ACTIONS FOR LIBEL AND SLANDER. APPROVED MARCH 23, 1873 Sec. I. — Plaintiff must give a bond. In an action for libel or slander, the clerk shall, before issuing the. summons therein, require a written undertaking on the part of the plaintiff in the sum of five hundred (500) dollars, with at least two competent and sufficient sureties, specifying the occupations and residences, to the effect that if the action be dismissed or the defendant recover judgment, that they will pay such costs and charges as may be awarded against the plaintiff by judgment or in the progress of the action, or on an appeal, not exceeding the sum specified in the undertaking. An action brought without filing the undertaking required, shall be dismissed. Sec. 2. — Sureties. Each of the sureties in the undertaking men- tioned in the first section shall annex to the same an affidavit that he is a resident and householder or freeholder within the county, and is worth double the amount specified in the undertaking, over and above all his just debts and liabilities, exclusive of property exempt from execution. CALIFORNIA. 1 5 Sec. 3. — Exceptions to sureties. Within ten days after service of the summons, the defendants, or either of them, may give to the plaintiff, or his attorney, notice that they or he except to the sure- ties, and require their justification before a judge of the court at the specified time and place, time to be not less than five or more than ten days thereafter, except by consent of parties. The qualifications of the sureties shall be as required in their affidavits. Sec. 4 — Justification. For the purpose of justification, each of the sureties shall attend before the judge at the time and place mentioned in the notice, and may be examined on oath touching his sufficiency in such manner as the judge in his discretion shall think proper. The examination shall be reduced to writing if either party desires it. Sec. 5. — Action of the court. If the judge finds the undertaking sufficient, he shall annex the examination to the undertaking, and endorse his approval thereon. If the sureties fail to appear, or the judge finds the sureties, or either of them, insufficient, he shall order a new undertaking to be given. The judge may also at any time order a new or additional undertaking upon proof that the sureties have become insufficient. In case a new or additional undertaking is ordered, all proceedings in the case shall be stayed until such undertaking is executed and filed, with the approval of the judge. Sec. 6. — Dismissal. If the undertaking as required is not filed iu five days after the order therefor, the judge or court shall order the action to be dismissed. Sec. 7. — Counsel fees. In case plaintiff recovers judgment, he shall be allowed as costs one hundred (100) dollars, to cover counsel fees, in addition to the other costs. In case the action is dismissed, or the defendant recovers judgment, he shall be allowed one hundred (100) dollars to cover counsel fees, in addition to the other costs, and judgment therefor shall be entered accordingly. l6 COLORADO. COLORADO. CONSTITUTION, 1876. ARTICLE 2. Sec. 10. — Freedom of speech. Libel — Truth — Jury determine law and fact. That no law shall be passed impairing the freedom of speech ; that every person shall be free to speak or write or pub- lish whatever he will on any subject, being responsible for all abuse of that liberty ; and that in all suits and prosecutions for libel the truth thereof may be given in evidence, and the jury, under the direction of the court, shall determine the law and the fact. MILLS' ANNOTATED STATUTES, 1891. CRIMINAL CODE. CHAPTER 36. Sec. 1312. — Abusive publications — Publishers must testify — Penalty. If any person or persons shall, in any newspaper or hand-bill, written or printed, publish or proclaim any other person or per- sons as coward or cowards, or use any other opprobrious or abusive language for not accepting a challenge to fight a duel, such person or persons so offending, on conviction, shall be fined in a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, or imprisoned for a term not exceeding three months. The publisher or printer of any such newspaper, hand-bill or other publication may be sum- moned as a witness, and shall be required to testify against the writer or writers of such hand-bill or publication, and if any such printer or printers shall refuse to testify in relation to the premi- ses, either before the grand or petit jury, he or they shall be deemed guilty of a flagrant contempt of the court, and may be punished by fine and imprisonment, or either ; Provided, however, that the testimony given by any such witness shall in no case be used in any prosecution against such witness. Sec. 1313. — Libels, what constitutes — Truth,when may be proved — Penalty. A libel is a malicious defamation expressed either by COLORADO. 17 printing or by signs or pictures or the like, tending to blacken the memory of one who is dead, or to impeach the honesty, integrity, virtue or reputation, or publish the natural defects of one who is alive, and thereby to expose him or her to public hatred, contempt or ridicule Every person, whether writer or publisher, con- victed of this offense, shall be fined in a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisoned in the penitentiary not exceed- ing one year. In all prosecutions for a libel, the truth thereof may be given in evidence in justification, except libel tending to blacken the memory of the dead or expose the natural defects of the living. CIVIL ACTIONS. CHAPTER 78. Sec. 2901. — Actions barred in one year. All actions for assault and battery, and for false imprisonment, and all actions for slan- derous words and for libels, shall be commenced within one year next after the cause of the action shall accrue, and not after- wards. CHAPTER 131. Sec. 4810. — Actions which survive to executors or administrators. All actions at law whatsoever, save and except actions on the case for slander or libel, or trespass for injuries done to the person and actions brought for the recovery of real estate, shall survive to and against executors and administrators. CODE OF PROCEDURE, 1890. By frank S. rice. Sec. 68. — In an action for libel or slander, it shall not be neces- sary to state in the complaint any extrinsic facts, for the purpose of showing the application to the plaintiff of the defaniatory mat- ter out of which the cause of action arose, but it shall be sufficient to state generally that the same was published or spoken concern- ing the plaintiff ; and if such allegation be controverted, the plaintiff shall establish on the trial that it was so published or spoken. Sec. 69. — In an action for libel or slander the defendant may, in his answer, allege both the truth of the matter charged as de- famatory and any mitigating circumstances to reduce the amount of damages, and whether he proves the justification or not he may give in evidence the mitigating circumstances. 1 8 CONNECTICUT. CONNECTICUT. CONSTITUTION, 1818. ARTICLE I. Sec. 5. — Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. Sec. 6. — No law shall be passed to curtail or restrain the liberty of speech or of the press. Sec. 7. — In all prosecutions or indictments for libels, the truth may be given in evidence, and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the court. GENERAL STATUTES, 1888. TITLE 19, CHAPTER 99. Sec. 1509. — Crimes and criminal prosecutions. Every person who shall disturb or break the peace by tumultuous and offensive car- riage, noise, or behavior, or by threatening, traducing, quarreling with, challenging, assaulting, or striking another, or who shall disturb or break the peace, or provoke contention, by following or mocking, any person with abusive or indecent language, or gestures or noise, or who shall, by any writing, with intent to intimidate any person, threaten to commit any crime against him or his property, or who shall write or print, and publicly exhibit or distribute, or who shall publicly exhibit, post up, or advertise any offensive indecent, or abusive matter, concerning any person, 'shall be fined hot mor» than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned not more than one year, c5r both. CIVIL ACTIONS. TITLE 18, CHAPTER 77. Sec. 1 1 16. — In every action for libel, the defendant may give proof of intention ; and unless the plaintiff shall prove either malice in fact, or that the defendant, after having been re- quested by him in writing to retract, the libelous charge, in as public a manner as that in which it was made, failed to do DELAWARE. I9 SO within a reasonable time, he shall recover nothing but such actual damage as he may specially allege and prove. CIVIL ACTIONS. TITLE 18, CHAPTER 98. Sec. 1375. — No action founded upon a tort unaccompanied with force and where the injury is consequential, shall be brought but within six years next after the right of action shall accrue. Sec. 1376. — No action for trespass to personal property, or for slanderous words, shall be brought but within three years next after the right of action shall accrue. DELAWARE. CONSTITUTION, 1831 ARTICLE L Sec. 5. — The press shall be free to every citizen who undertakes to examine the official conduct of men acting in a public capacity, and any citizen may print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. In prosecutions for publications, in- vestigating the proceedings of officers, or where the matter pub- lished is proper for public information, the truth thereof may be given in evidence, and in all indictments for libels the jury may determine the facts and the law, as in other cases. REVISED CODE OF 1853 AS AMENDED 1893. Page 800. Sec. I. — An act to admit testimony on trial of indictment for libel. That from and after the passage of this act, on the trial of indict- ments for writing or publishing a libel, the truth of the matter charged as libelous may be given in evidence ; and if the jury, in any such case, shall find that the act was induced by good motives, and with no malicious intent, and that the matter so charged is true, it shall operate to the acquittal of the defendant or defend- ants. Sec. 2. — That in actions for damages for the writing or pub- lishing of a libel, where the truth is pleaded and given in evidence, if it will be found that the same was written or published properly for the public information, and with no malicious or mischievous motives, the jury may find for the defendant or defendants. 20 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. REVISED CODE, PAGE 971. Sec. I. — An act in relation to threatening letters and levying black- mail. If any person shall knowingly send, or deliver, or utter to- any other person any letter or writing, accusing or threatening to- accuse either the person to whom such letter or writing shall be sent or delivered, or any other person, of any crime or misde- meanor punishable by law, or with imprisonment, with a view or intent to extorter gain by means of such threatening letter, or writing, any property, money, security, or other valuable^ thing- ' from any person whatsoever, or shall send, deliver or utter any letter or writing threatening to kill or murder any person, or to- burn or destroy any house, barn or other outbuilding, or any rick or stack of grain, hay or straw, or agricultural product ; or shall any- person seduce another into any position for the purpose of threatening exposure for anything into the intent of levying black- mail, every such offender shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction be sentenced to an imprisonment not exceeding three years, and to pay a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or either or both, at the discretion of the court. REVISED CODE, PAGE 888. CHAPTER 123. Sec. 6.— No action of trespass, * * * ^.^^ i^q action upon the case shall be brought after the expiration of three years from the accruing of the cause of such action. * * * DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. Note. — Cogley's Digest of the Reports and Statutes, 1892, in. force in District of Columbia, gives no statutes on the subjects of libel and slander, except the limitation given below, but in the Revised Statutes relating to the District of Columbia, published by the Government in 1875, the Act of. Congress (43d Congress)- to revise said statutes, contains the following : CRIMINAL PRACTICE. CHAPTER 23. Sec. 842. — In all prosecutions or indictments for libel insti- tuted in the District, the truth thereof may be given in evidence under the general issue as a justification of the alleged libel ; and FLORIDA. 2 1 if it appears that the matter charged as libelous was true, and was written or published with good motives and for justifiable ends the defendant shall be acquitted. STATUTES AN'D REPORTS BY COGLEY. P. 545. — Limitations of actions; provides that the said ac- tions on the case for words shall be brought within one year. FLORIDA. CONSTITUTION, 1887. Sec. 13. — Declaration of rights. Every person may fully speak and write his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right, and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions and civil actions for libel the truth may be given in evidence to the jury,.and if it shall appear that the matter charged as libelous is true; and was published for good motives, the party shall be acquitted or exonerated. REVISED STATUTES OF FLORIDA, 1892. CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE. PART 5, TITLE 2, CHAPTER 3. ARTICLE IV. Sec. 2418. — Punishment for libel. Any person convicted of the publication of a libel shall be punished by imprisonment not ex- ceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars. Sec. 2419. — Defamation. Whoever speaks of and concerning any woman, married or unmarried, falsely and maliciously, imput- ing to her a want of chastity, shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by fir^e not exceeding five hundred dollars. Sec. 2420. — Threats to accuse atiother of crime. Whoever, either verbally or' by written or printed communication, maliciously threatens to accuse another of any crime or offense, or by such com- munication maliciously threatens an injury to the person or prop- 22 FLORIDA. erty of another, with intent thereby to extort money or any pecuniary advantage whatever, or with intent to compel the person so threatened or any other person to do any act against his will, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison not exceed- ing ten years. CIVIL ACTIONS. PART 2, TITLE 1, CHAPTER 6. ARTICLE IV. Sec. 989. — All actions for personal injuries shall die with the person, to wit * * * slander * * * Note. — This section held to include libel. 23 Fla. 355. PART 2, TITLE 1, CHAPTER VS. ARTICLE VIII. Sec. 1057. — Declarations in special cases. — For libel and slander. In actions for libel and slander the plaintiff may aver that the words or matter complained of were used in a defamatory sense, specifying such defamatory sense, without any prefatory averment to show how such words or matter were used in that sense, and such averment shall be put in issue by the denial of the alleged libel or slander ; and when the words or matter set forth, with or without the alleged meaning, show a cause of action, the declara- tion shall be sufficient. Sec. 1058. — Par. 27. (Form of count). Defamation of character that the defendant falsely and mali- ciously spoke and published of the plaintiff the words following : that is to say, " he is a thief." (If there is any special damage, state it with reasonable certainty, so as to give notice to the defendant of the peculiar injury complained of ; for instance : Whereby the plaintiff lost his situation as clerk in the employ of A). PART 2, TITLE 1, CHAPTER 26. ARTICLE III. Sec. 1294 — Par. 6. — Provides among others that actions for slander and libel must be brought within two years. GEORGIA. 23 GEORGIA. CONSTITUTION, 1877. ARTICLE I. Sec. I. — Par. 15. Liberty of speech guaranteed. No law shall ever be passed to curtail, or restrain, the liberty of speech, or of the press ; any person may speak, write and publish his sentiments, on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. Sec. 2. — Par i. Libel — Jury in criminal trials. In all prose- cutions or indictments for libel, the truth may be given in evidence ; and the jury in all criminal cases shall be the judges of the law and the facts. The power of the judges to grant new trials in case of conviction is preserved. CODE OF GEORGIA, 1882. PENAL CODE. PART 4, TITLE 1, DIVISION 9. Sec. ^c,2t.— Libel defined. A libel is a malicious defamation, expressed either by printing or writing, or signs, or pictures or the like, tending to blacken the memory of one who is dead, or the honesty, virtue, integrity or reputation of one who is alive, and thereby expose him to public hatred, contempt or ridicule. Every person convicted of this offense shall be, punished as prescribed in Section 4310 of this Code. Note. — Sec. 4310 provides for punishment , by fine not to exceed one thousand dollars, imprisonment not to exceed six months, to work in the chain gang of the public works, or in such other works as the county authorities may employ the chain-gang, not to exceed twelve months, and any one or more of these punishments' may be ordered in the discretion of the judge. Sec. 4522. — Printer, a witness. In all prosecutions under the two pireceding sections of this division, the printer or publisher of 24 GEORGIA. a newspaper, hand-bill, or other publication containing the offen- sive or criminal matter, shall be a competent witness ; and if such printer or publisher shall refuse to testify in the cause, or to give up the real name of the author or person authorizing and causing the publication, so that he may be indicted, then such printer or publisher shall be deemed and considered the author himself, and be indicted and punished as such ; and may, moreover, be punished for contempt of the court, as any other witness refusing to testify. Sec. 4523. — The truth evidence. In all cases of indictment for libel, or for slander, the person prosecuted shall be allowed to give the truth in evidence. CIVIL CODE. PART 2, TITLE 8, CHAPTER 2, ARTICLE II. Sec. I. — Of libel and slander. Sec. 2974. — Libel. A libel is a false and malicious defamation of another expressed in print, or writing, or pictures, or signs, tending to injure the reputation of an individual, and exposing him to public hatred, contempt or ridicule. The publication of the libelous matter is essential to recovery. Sec. 2975. — Malice. In all actions for printed or spoken defa- mation, malice is inferred from the character of the charge. The existence of malice may be rebutted by proof, which in all cases shall go in mitigation of damages, and in cases of privileged com- munication will be in bar of a recovery. Sec. 2976. — Publication. A libel is published as soon as it is communicated to any person other than the party libelled. Sec. 2977. — Slander, or oral defamation, consists — 1. In imputing to another a crime punishable, by law ; or, 2. Charging' him with having some contagious disorder, or being guilty of some debasing act which may exclude him from society ; or, 3. In charges made on another in reference to his trade, office, or profession, calculated to injure him therein ; or, 4. Any disparaging words productive of special damage flow- ing naturally therefrom. In the latter case, special damage is essential to support the action ; in the three former, damage is inferred. Sec. 2978. — Charge of intercourse with a person of color. Any charge or intimation against a free white female of having sexual intercourse with a person of color, is slanderous without proof of special damage. GEORGIA. 25 Sec. 2979. — Truth justifies. The truth of the charge made may always be proved in justification of a libel or slander. Sec. 2980. — Privileged communications. The following are •deemed privileged communications : - I. Statements made bona fide in the performance of a public •duty. 2. Similar statements in the performance of a private duty, •either legal or moral. 3. Statements made with the bona fide intent, on the part of the speaker,to protect his own interest in a matter where it is •concerned. 4. Fair and honest reports of the proceedings of legislative or judicial bodies. 5. Comments of counsel, fairly made, on the circumstances of his case, and the conduct of parties in connection therewith. 6. Comments upon the acts of public men, in their public capacity, and with reference thereto. Sec. 2981. — Malicious use of privileges. In every case of priv- ileged communications, if the privilege is used merely as a cloak for venting private malice, and not bona fide in promotion of the object for which the privilege is granted, the party defamed has a right of action. PART 2, TITLE 8, CHAPTER 4, ARTICLE III. Sec. 3060. — To the person. Actions for injuries done to the person shall be brought within two years after the right of action accrues, except for injuries to the reputation, which shall be brought within one year. PART 3, TITLE 2, CHAPTER 3, SECTION 6. Sec. 3396. — Form of an action for words — The form of an ac- tion for words may be as follows, to wit : Georgia, County. To the Honorable Court of said county. The petition of A. B. ' shows that C. D. of said county has injured and damaged your peti- tioner in the sum of ' dollars, by falsely and maliciously saying of and concerning your petitioner, on the day of , 18 , the following false and malicious words, to wit (Here give the words) : Wherefore, your petitioner prays process may issue requiring the said C. D. to be and appear at the next court to be held in and for the said county, . then and there to answer your petitioner's complaint. 26 IDAHO. Sec. 3397. — Apply to all suits for slander. All suits for slan- der may be prosecuted under the last preceding form of action, and the writ or complaint shall be deemed and held sufficiently technical and full, if it follow such form without material varia- tion. Everything els» material for the maintenance of the action may be supplied by proof. Sec. 3398. — May accompany the words, etc. When the last pre- ceding form of action is adopted, the plaintiff may accompany the words set forth by such explanatory innuendoes as will serve to state the cause of action distinctly. SESSION LAWS OF GEORGIA, 1893. No. 368, Page 131. — An act defining newspaper libel and pro- viding for procedure in actions for same. Sec. I. — Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, and it is hereby enacted by authority of the same, that any false and malicious defamation of another in any newspaper, magazine or periodical, tending to injure the reputation of any individual and expose him to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule, shall constitute a newspaper libel, the publication of such libelous matter being essential to recovery. Sec. 2. — Be it further enacted, that a fair and honest report of the proceedings of legislative or judicial bodies, or court proceed- ings, or a truthful report of information received from any arrest- ing officer or police authorities, shall be deemed privileged communications ; and in any action brought for newspaper libel the rule of law as to privileged communications shall apply. Sec. 3. — Be it further enacted, that all laws and parts of laws- in conflict with this act be, and the same are, hereby repealed. Approved December 20, 1893. IDAHO. CONSTITUTION, 1889. ARTICLE I. Sec. 9. — Every person may freely speak, write, and publish on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty IDAHO. ' 27 REVISED STATUTES OF IDAHO, 1887. PENAL CODE. PART 4, PENAL DIV. 2, TITLE 7, CHAPTER 2. Sec. 7884. — On the trial of an indictment for libel, the jury have the right to determine the law and the fact. Sec. 7691. — An indictment for libel need not set forth any ex- trinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the party libelled of the defamatory matter on which the indictment is founded ; but it is sufficient to state generally that the same was published concerning him, and the fact that it was so pub- lished must be established on the trial. CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. PART 3, TITLE 6, CHAPTER 7. Sec. 4215. — In an action for libel or slander it is not necessary to state in the complaint ^any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the plaintiff of the defamatory matter out of which the cause of action arose ; but it is sufficient to state, generally, that the same was published or spoken concern- ing the plaintiff ; if such allegation be controverted, the plaintiff must establish on the trial that it was so published or spoken. Sec. 4216. — In the actions mentioned in the last section the defendant may, in his answer, allege both the truth of the matter charged as defamatory and any mitigating circumstances to reduce the amount of damages ; and whether he prove the justi- fication or not, he may give in evidence the mitigating circum- stances. EVIDENCE. PART 4, TITLE 7, CHAPTER 10. Sec. 6737. — Libel. A libel is a malicious defamation, expressed either by writing, printing, or by signs, or pictures, or the like, tending to blacken the memory of one who is dead, or to impeach the honesty, integrity, virtue or reputation, or publish the natural or alleged defects of one who is alive, and thereby to expose him to public hatred, contempt or ridicule. TITLE 7, CHAPTER 10. Sec. 6738. — Every person who wilfully, and with the malicious intent to injure another, publishes or procures to be published any 28 IDAHO. libel, is punishable by fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six mouths. Sec. 6739. — Injurious publication is presumed to have been malicious if no justifiable motive for making it is shown. Sec. 6740. — In all criminal prosecutions for libel the truth may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it appears to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted. The jury have the right to determine the law and the fact. Sec. 6741. — To sustain a charge of publishing a libel it is not needful that the words or things complained of should have been read or seen by another. It is enough that the accused knowingly parted with the immediate custody of the libel under circum- stances which exposed it to be read or seen by any other person than himself. Sec. 6742. — Each author, editor and proprietor of any book, newspaper or serial publication is chargeable with the publication of any words contained in any part of such book or number of such newspaper or serial. Sec. 6743. — No reporter, editor or proprietor of any newspaper is liable to any prosecution for a fair and true report of any judi- cial, legislative or other public official proceedings, or of any statement, speech, argument or debate in the course of the same, except upon proof of malice in making such report, which shall not be implied from the mere fact of publication. Sec 6744. — Libelous remarks or comments connected with matter privileged by the last section receive no privilege by rea- son of their being so connected. Sec. 6745. Every person who threatens another to publish a libel concerning him, or any parent, husband, wife or child of such person, or member of his family, and every person who offers to prevent the publication of any libel upon another person, with intent to extort any money or other valuable consideration from any person, is guilty of a misdemeanor. PART 2, TITLE 2, CHAPTER 3. Sec. 4055 provides infer alia that actions for libel and slander must be brought within two years. ILLINOIS. 29 ILLINOIS. CONSTITUTION, 1870. BILL OF RIGHTS. ARTICLE II. Sec. 4. — Every person may freely speak, write and publish on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty .; and in all trials for libel, both civil and criminal, the truth, when pub- lished with good motives and for justifiable ends, shall be a suffi- cient defense. REVISED STATUTES OF ILLINOIS— KURD, 1893. CHAPTER 38. CRIMINAL CODE. Sec. 177. — Libel. — Defined. A libel is a malicious defamation, expressed either by printing, or by signs, or pictures, or the like, tending to blacken the memory of one who is dead, or to impeach the honesty, integrity, virtue or reputation or publish the natural defects of one who is alive, and thereby to expose him to public hatred, contempt, ridicule, or financial injury. Sec. 178. — Punishment. Every person, whether writer or pub- lisher, convicted of libel, shall be fined not exceeding $500, or confined in the county jail not exceeding one year. Sec. 179. — Justification: In all prosecutions for libel, the truth, when published with good motives, and for justifiable ends, shall be a sufficient defense. CIVIL ACTIONS. CHAPTER 136. Sec. I. — Slander and libel. — Accusing of fornication or adultery^ slander. Be it' enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, rep- resented in the General Assembly, that if any person shall falsely use, utter or publish words which, in their common acceptation, shall amount to charge any person with having been guilty of for- nication or adultery, such words so spoken shall be deemed actionable, and he shall be deemed guilty of slander. Sec. 2. — Accusing of false swearing, etc., slander. It shall be deemed slander, and shall be actionable, to charge any person with 30 INDIANA, swearing falsely, or with having sworn falsely, or for using, utter- ing or publishing words of, to or concerning any person which, in their common acceptation, amount to such charge, whether the words be spoken in conversation of, and concerning a judicial pro- ceeding, or not. Sec. 3. — Proof of malice. In actions for slander or libel, an unproved allegation of the truth of the matter charged shall not be deemed proof of malice, unless the jury,on the whole case, find that such defense was made with malicious intent. And it shall be competent for the defendant to establish the truth of the matter charged by a preponderance of testimony. ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES. CHAPTER 3. Sec. 122. — Actions which survive. — What actions. In addition to the actions which survive by the common law, the following shall also survive ; * * * * actions to recover damages for an injury to the person (except slander and libel), * * * * LIMITATIONS. CHAPTER 83. Sec. 13. — Personal actions. — Slander and libel. Actions for slander or libel shall be commenced within one year next after the cause of action accrued. INDIANA. CONSTITUTION, 1851. ARTICLE I. Sec. 9. — Free speech and writing. No law shall be passed restraining the free interchange of thought and opinion, or restrict- ing the right to speak, write, or print freely on any subject what- ever ; but for the abuse of that right every person shall be responsible. Sec. 10. — The truth in libel. In all prosecutions for libel, the truth, of the matters alleged to be libelous may be given in justifi- cation. INDIANA. 3 1 BURNS' INDIANA STATUTES. REVISION OF 1894. CRIMES.— VOLUME I. Sec. 1998. — Libel. Whoever makes, composes, dictates, prints, or writes a libel to be published, or procures the same to be done, and whoever publishes or knowingly aids in publishing or com- municating a libel, is guilty of libel, and shall, upon convic- tion thereof, be fined not more than one thousand dollars, nor less than five dollars, to which may be added imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year nor less than ten days. Sec. 1999 — Blackmailing. Whoever, either verbally or by any letter or writing, or any written or printed communication, de- mands of any person, with menaces of personal injury, any chattel, money, or other valuable security ; or whosoever accuses or threatens to accuse, or knowingly sends or delivers any letter or writing, or any written or printed communication, with or without a name subscribed thereto, or signed with a fictitious name ; or with any letter, mark, or designation, accusing or threatening to accuse any person of any crime punishable by law, or of any im- moral conduct, which, if true, would tend to degrade or disgrace such person, or in any way to subject him to the ridicule or con- tempt of society, or to do any injury to the person or property of any one, with intent to extort or gain from such person any chattel, money, or valuable security, or any pecuniary advantage what- soever, or with any intent to compel the person threatened to do any act against his will, with the intent aforesaid, is guilty of blackmailing, and shall, on conviction thereof, be imprisoned in the state prison for not more than five years, or less than one year, to which may be added a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars. CIVIL PROCEDURE.— VOLUME I. Sec. 375. — Libel.or slander— Defamatory matter. In an action for libel or' slander, it shall be sufficient to state, generally, that the defamatory matter was published or spoken of the plaintiff ; and if the allegation be denied, the plaintiff must prove on the trial the facts showing that the defamatory matter was published or spoken of him. 32 IOWA. Sec. 376. — Justification and mitigation evidence. In all actions- mentioned in the last section, the defendant may allege the truth of the matter charged as defamatory and mitigating circumstances- to reduce the damages, and give either or both in evidence. Sec. 294. — Injury to person, etc.— Limitation. The following ac- tions shall be commenced withm the periods herein prescribed, after the cause of action has accrued, and not afterwards. First for injuries to personal character, and for a forfeiture or penalty- given by statute within two years. VOLUME I. CHAPTER 2, ARTICLE 5. Sec. 286. — Charges of incest, etc., how actionable. Every charge of incest, fornication, adultery, or whoredom, falsely made by any person against a female ; also words falsely spoken of any person^ charging such person with incest, or the infamous crime against nature, either with mankind or the brute creation, shall be action- able in .the same manner as in the case of slanderous words charg- ing a crime, the commission of which would subject the offender to death or other degrading penalties. IOWA. CONSTITUTION, 1857. ARTICLE L Sec. 7. — Liberty of speech and the press. Every person may speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being re- sponsible for the abuse of that right. No law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech, or of the press. In all prosecutions or indictments for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous was true, and was published with good motives and fibr justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted. IOWA. 33 McCLAIN'S IOWA CODE, 1888. CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE. LIBEL. CHAPTER 15. Sec. 5478. — Definition. A libel is a malicious defamation of a person made pubfic by any printing, writing, sign, 'picture, repre- sentation or efifigy, tending to provoke him to wrath, or to expose him to public hatred, contempt or ridicule, or to deprive him of the benefits of public confidence and social intercourse ; or any malicious defamation made public as aforesaid, designed to black- en and villify the memory of one who is dead, and tending to scandalize or provoke the surviving relatives or friends. Sec. 5479. — Punishment. Every person who makes, comf)oses, dictates, or procures the same to be done ; or who wilfully pub- lishes or circulates such libel ; or in any way knowingly or wilfully aids or assists in making, publishing, or circulating the same, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not more than one year, or by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars. Sec. 5480. — Truth given in evidence. In all prosecutions or indictments for libel, the truth thereof may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it appear to them that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justi- fiable ends, the defendant shall be acquitted. Sec. 5481. — Publication. No printing, writing, or other thing is a libel unless there has been a publication thereof. Sec. 5482. — Definition of. The delivering, selling, reading, or otherwise communicating a libel ; or causing the same to be deliv- ered, sold, • read, or otherwise communicated to one or more persons or to the party libelled, is a publication thereof. Sec. 5483. — Law and fact In all indictments or prosecutions for libel, the jury, after having received the directions of the court, shall -have the right to determine at their discretion the law and the fact. Sec. 5695. — Indictment for libel. An indictment for a libel need not set forth any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the party libelled of the defamatory matter upon which the indictment is founded, but it is sufficient to state gener- ally that the same was published concerning him, and the fact that it was so published must be established on trial. 3 34 IOWA. Sec. 5823. — Trial of libel. On the trial of an indictment for a libel the jury have a right to determine the law and the fact. CODE OF CIVIL PRACTICE. Sec. 3730. All causes of action shall survive, and may be brought, nothwithstanding the death of the person entitled or liable to the same. Note, — An action for libel will survive. Carson vs. McFaddon, 10 la. 91. CHAPTER 3. Sec. 3734. — Period of limitations of actions. The following ac- tions maybe brought within the times hereinafter limited, respect- ively, after their causes accrue and not afterward, except when otherwise especially declared: Par. I. Actions founded on injuries to person or reputation, whether based on contract or tort, or for a statute penalty, within two years. Sec. 3887. — Statements of petition. In an action for slander or libel, it shall not be necessary to state any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the plaintiff of any defam- atory matter out of which the cause of action arose, or that the matter was used in a defamatory sense ; but it shall be sufficient to state the defamatory sense in which such matter was used, and that the same was spoken or published concerning the plaintiff. Sec. 3888. — How pleaded. In any action brought to recover damages for an injury to person, character, or property, the de- fendant may set forth in a distinct division of his answer, any facts of- which evidence is legally admissible to mitigate or other- wise reduce the damages, whether a complete defense or justifica- tion be pleaded or not, and he may give in evidence the mitigating circumstances whether he prove the defense or justification or not, and no mitigating circumstances shall be proved unless plead, except such as are shown by, or grown out of, the testimony intro- duced by the adverse party ; and in actions for slander or libel an unproved allegation of the truth of the matter charged shall not be deemed proof of malice, unless the jury on the whole case find that such defense was made with malicious intent; KANSAS. 35 KANSAS. CONSTITUTION, 1859. BILL OF RIGHTS. ARTICLE IX. The Press — Libel. The liberty of the press shall be inviolate ; and all persons may freely speak, write or publish their senti- ments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of such right ; and in all civil or criminal actions for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it shall appear that the alleged libelous matter was published for justifiable ends, the ac- cused party shall be acquitted. GENERAL STATUTES, KANSAS, 1889. CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS. CHAPTER 31. Sec. 2444. — Libel. A libel is a malicious defamation of a person, made public by any printing, writing, sign, pictures, representation or effigy, tending to provoke him to wrath, or expose him to public hatred, contempt or ridicule, or to deprive him of the benefits of public confidence and social intercourse, or any malicious defama- tion, made public as aforesaid, designed to blacken and villify the memory of one who is dead, and tending to scandalize or provoke the surviving relatives and friends. Sec. 2445. — Composing or circulating. Every person who makes or composes, dictates or procures the same to be done, or who wilfully publishes or circulates such libels, or in any way, know- ingly or wilfully, aids or assists in making, publishing or circulating the same, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not more than one year, or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars. Sec. 2446. — Defense. In all prosecutions or indictments for libel, the truth thereof may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it appears to them that the matter as charged as libelous was true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the defendant shall be acquitted. 36 KANSAS. Sec. 2447, — Publication. No printing, writing or other thing is a libel, unless there has been a publication thereof. Sec. 2448. — What is. The delivery, selling, reading, or other- wise communicating a libel, or causing the same to be delivered, sold, read or otherwise communicated to one or more persons, or to the party libelled, is a publication thereof. Sec. 2449. — Law and fact. In all indictments or prosecutions for libel, the jury, after having received the directions of the court, shall have the right to determine, at their discretion, the law and the fact. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE. CHAPTER 82. Sec. 5311. — Preceding Section. The last section shall not extend to conviction for writing or publishing any libel, nor shall any security be hereafter required by any court, upon any complaint, prosecution, or conviction, for any such writing or publishing. Note. — The preceding section provides that the court on con- viction of any crime may further require the person convicted to give security to keep the peace. CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. CHAPTER 80. Sec. 4095. — Limitation. Civil actions other than for the re- covery of real property, can only be brought within the following periods, after the cause of action shall have accrued, and not afterwards * * * 4. Within one year an action for libel, slander * * * Sec. 4208. — Libel or slander — Pleading and proof . In an action for libel or slander, it shall be sufficient to state, generally, that the defamatory matter was published or spoken of the plaintiff ; and if the allegation be denied, the plaintiff must prove, on the trial, facts, showing that the defamatory matter was published or spoken of him. Sec. 4209. — Libel and slander — Defense. In the actions men- tioned in the last section, the defendant may allege the truth of the matter charged as defamatory, and may prove the same, and any mitigating circumstances, to reduce the amount of damages, or he may prove either. KENTUCKY. 37 KENTUCKY. CONSTITUTION, 1891. BILL OF RIGHTS. Sec. I. — Inherent and inalienable rights. All men are, by nature, free and equal, and have certain inherent and inalienable rights, among which may be reckoned ; * * * 4. The right of freely communicating their thoughts and opinions. Sec. 8. — Liberty of speech — Freedom, of the press. Printing presses shall be free to every person who undertakes to examine the proceedings of the General Assembly or any branch of govern- ment, and no law shall ever be made to restrain the right thereof. Every person may freely and fully speak, write and print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. Sec. 9. — Libel — Truth justification — J^ury judges of law and facts. In prosecutions for the publication of papers investigating the official conduct of officers or men in a public capacity, or where the matter published is proper for public information, the truth thereof may be given in evidence ; and in all indictments for libel the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the court, as in other cases. KENTUCKY CODE. CARROLL'S, 1888. CRIMINAL CODE. TITLE 2. Sec. 21. — When offense may be prosecuted in either of several counties. If an offense be committed partly in one and partly in another county, or if acts and their effects constituting an offense occur in different counties, the jurisdiction is in either county, but 38 KENTUCKY all prosecutions against persons publishing a newspaper for any libelous matter contained therein shall be had in the county where the same is printed and issued, or in the county where the party complaining resides. TITLE 6, CHAPTER 2. Sec. 132. — WAai statement sufficient indictment for libel. An in- dictment for libel need not set forth any extrinsic facts, for the pur- pose of showing the application to the party libelled, of the defamatory matter ; but it is sufficient to state generally that the same was published concerning him. CIVIL CODE. TITLE 7, CHAPTER 7. Sec. 123. — What allegations not necessary in action for libel or slander. In an action for libel or slander, it is not necessary to state any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the plaintiff of the alleged defamatory matter. Sec. 124. — What answer may state in actions for libel and slander. In the actions mentioned in Sec. 123, the defendant may state the truth of the alleged libel or slander, and any mitigating circum- stances, and whether he prove the justification or not, he may prove the mitigating circumstances to reduce the amount of damages. TITLE 9, CHAPTER 2. Sec. 341. — When new trial shall riot be granted. Any new trial shall not be granted on account of the smallness of damages in an action for an injury to the person or reputation, nor in any other action in which the damages equal the actual pecuniary injury sustained ; nor shall more than two new trials be granted to a party upon the ground that the verdict is not sustained by the evidence. TITLE 5. Sec. 74. — For injury to person or character. * * * And every action for an injury to the character of the plaintiff, against a defendant residing in this state, must be brought in the county in which the defendant resides, or in which the injury is done. KENTUCKY. 39 THE KENTUCKY STATUTES. BARBOUR & CARROLL, 1894. CHAPTER 1. Sec. \o.-— Actions that survive. No right of action for personal injury or injury to real or personal estate shall cease or die with the person injuring or injured, except actions for * * * slander * * * but for any injury other than those excepted, an action may be brought or revived by the personal representative, or against the personal representative, heir or devisee, in the same manner as causes of action founded on contract. CHAPTER 46, ARTICLE 4. Sec. t66i. — Capias ad satisfaciendum allowed. — Judgments upon which may issue — Form of — Returned. A capias ad satisfaciendutn may issue, except against females upon all judgments for * * * or for slander, written or verbal, * * * CHAPTER 26, SUBDIVISION 6. Sec. 1295. — Contempts. — Words spoken or written not in presence of the court. No court or judge shall proceed by process of con- tempt, or impose a fine against any person who shall, by words or writing, animadvert upon or examine into the process or conduct of such court or judge, by words spoken or writing published not in the presence of such court or judge in the court house during the sitting of the court. Sec. 1299. — Indictment for libel — Resisting process. Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to prevent any court, or judge thereof, from proceeding against any person writing or publishing a libel, or slanderous words, of and concerning such court or judge in relation to his judicial conduct in court, by indictment, nor from prohibiting any court from punishing any person guilty of a contempt in resisting or disobeying any judicial order or process issued by, or under the authority of such court. CHAPTER 80. Art. 2516. — Limitation.— Actions that must be brought within one year after accrual of right. An action for libel or slander * * * shall be commenced within one year next after the cause of action accrued, and not thereafter. 40 LOUISIANA. LOUISIANA. CONSTITUTION, 1879. BILL OF RIGHTS. ARTICLE IV. No law shall be passed respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances. ARTICLE 168. In all proceedings or indictments for libel the truth thereof may be given in evidence. The jury in all criminal cases shall be judges of the law and of the facts on the question of guilt or innocence, having been charged ' as to the law applicable to the case by the presiding judge. VOORHIES' REVISED STATUTES OF LOUISIANA, 1876. SLANDER AND LIBEL. Sec. 3640. — Whenever any civil suit for slander, defamation, or for a libel, shall be instituted in any court of this state, it shall be lawful for the defendant to plead in justification the truth of the slanderous, defamatory, or libelous words or matters for the utter- ing or publishing of which he may be sued ; and in the trial of the issue of such suits to maintain and prove his said plea by all legal evidence. Sec. 3641. — In prosecutions for libel, the truth may be given in evidence ; and if it shall appear that the matter charged as libelous is, and was, published with good motives and for justifi- able ends, the party shall be acquitted. Sec. 3642. — No client or other person shall be held liable or responsible for any slanderous or libelous words uttered by his attorney-at-law, but attorneys shall be themselves liable and re- sponsible for any slanderous or libelous words uttered by them. LOUISIANA. 41 Sec. 3643. — Whoever shall maliciously defame any person by making, writing, publishing, or causing to be published, any man- ner of libel, shall, on conviction thereof, suffer fine, or imprison- ment, or both, at the discretion of the court. SESSION LAWS OF LOUISIANA, 1888. NUMBER 118. An Act making the slandering or defamation of persons of good repute, without probable cause, a misdemeanor ; providing penalties for violations of this act, and defining in what cases infractions of this act shall be justifiable. Section i. — Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Louisiana, that whoever shall, without probable cause, defame or slander any person of good repute, or shall impute to such person the commission of any criminal or wrongful act or deed, or who shall do any act, or give currency to any report or statement, or use any words intended to bring a person of good repute into public contempt, or to subject such person to ridicule, injury or damage,- and whoever shall do or assist therein, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, be fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, or be impris- oned for a term not exceeding two years, or both, at the discre- tion of the court. Sec. 2. — Be it further enacted, etc., that in all prosecutions under this act, the accused may, in justification, plead the truth of the averments, words, deeds or acts which have subjected him or her to prosecution. Sec. 3. — Be it further enacted, etc., that this act shall take effect from and after its passage. VOORHIES' CIVIL CODE OF LOUISIANA. SAUNDERS' EDITION, 1889. ARTICLE 3457. Prescription is a manner of acquiring the ownership of prop- erty, or discharging debts, by the effect of time, and under the conditions regulated by law. ARTICLE 3536. The following actions are also prescribed by one year : That for injurious words, whether verbal or written, * * * 42 MAINE. MAINE. CONSTITUTION, 1819. ARTICLE 1. Sec. 4. — Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of this liberty ; no law shall be passed regulating or restraining the free- dom of the press ; and in prosecuting for any publications respect- ing the official conduct of men in public capacity, or the qualifica- tions of those who are candidates for the suffrages of the people, or where the matter published is proper for public information, the truth thereof may be given in evidence, and in all indictments for libels, the jury, after having received the directions of the court, shall have the right to determine, at their discretion, the law and the fact. REVISED STATUTES OF MAINE, 1883. TITLE 11, CHAPTER 129. Sec. I. — Libels. A libel is a malicious defamation of a living person, made public by any printing, writing, sign, picture, repre- sentation or effigy, tending to provoke him to wrath, expose him to public hatred, contempt or ridicule, or to deprive him of the benefits of public confidence and social intercourse ; or of a deceased person, thus made public, designed to blacken and villify his memory, and tending to scandalize or provoke his relatives or friends ; and nothing shall be deemed a libel unless there is a publication thereof ; and the delivery, selling, reading or other- wise communicating a libel directly or indirectly to any person, or to the party libeled, is a publication. Sec. 2. — Whoever makes, composes, dictates, writes or prints a libel ; directs or procures it to be done ; wilfully publishes or circulates it, or knowingly and wilfully aids in doing either, shall be punished by imprisonment for less than one year, and by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars. Sec. 3. — Whoever manages or controls the business of a print- ing office, book store or shop, as principal or agent, or is, in whole or in part, proprietor, editor, printer, or publisher of a newspaper, MAINE. 43 pamphlet, book or other publication, is responsible for any libel printed or published therein, unless he proves on trial that it was printed and published without his knowledge, consent or suspi- cion, and that, by reasonable care and diligence, he could not have prevented it. Sec. 4. — In prosecutions for any publications relative to the official conduct of men in public capacities, or the qualifications of candidates for popular suffrages, or where the matter published is proper for public information, the truth thereof may be given in evidence, and if proved, shall be a complete justification, and in prosecutions for *a.\\ other libels, the truth thereof, thus proved, shall be a complete justification, unless it appears that such publi- cation originated in corrupt and malicious motives ; and if any alleged libel is not justified in either of said modes, it shall be deemed malicious, unless the contrary is clearly proved. Sec. 5. — In all indictments for libel, the jury after receiving the direction of the court, may determine, at their discretion, the law and the fact. TITLE 9, CHAPTER 81. Sec. 84. — Limitation. Actions of assault and battery, and for false imprisonment, slander and libel, shall be commenced within two years after cause of action accrues. TITLE 9, CHAPTER 83. Sec. 29. — In a suit for writing and publishing a libel, evidence shall be received to establish the truth of the matter charged as libelous. If its truth is established, it is a justification, unless the publication is found to have originated in corrupt or malicious motives. 44 MARYLAND. MARYLAND. CONSTITUTION 1867. BILL OF RIGHTS. ARTICLE 40. • That the liberty of the press ought to be inviolably preserved ; that every citizen of the state ought to be allowed to speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that privilege. PUBLIC GENERAL LAWS OF MARYLAND, 1888. ARTICLE 75. Sec. 15. — In case any person shall be prosecuted by indictment or any other criminal prosecution for a libel, the party so prose- cuted shall be entitled to give the truth of the matter charged in the said indictment or other prosecution, in evidence under the general issue by way of justification. Sec. 2;^. — Forms of pleadings. Sub Section 35. That defend- ant falsely and maliciously printed and published of the plaintiff in a newspaper called "The Examiner," the words following, that is to say : " He foreswore himself." Sec. 23. — Sub Section 34. That the defendant falsely and ma- liciously spoke and published of the plaintiff the words following, that is to say : " He is a thief." (If there be any special damage, here state it with such reasonable particularity as to give notice to the defendant of the particular injury complained of, for instance.) Whereby the plaintiff lost his situation of bookkeeper in the Bank of Washington. Sec. 24. — Provides inter alia that actions for slander shall abate on the death of the parties to the action, and also provides that no other personal action shall so abate. ARTICLE 88. Sec. I. — Slander of females. All words spoken falsely and ma- liciously touching the character or reputation for chastity of any MASSACHUSETTS. 45 woman, whether single or married, and tending to the injury there- of, shall be deemed slander, and shall be treated as such in the several courts of law of this state. Sec. 2. — Any woman, whether single or married, whose charac- ter or reputation as a woman of chastity may be traduced or de- famed by any person, may sustain an action of slander in her own name against such person. Sec. 3. — If the woman so injured shall be a feme sole under the age of eighteen years, she may prosecute such action of slan- der by h.tr prochein ami. Sec. 4. — The husband of any female may prosecute and sus- tain an action of slander against any person for words falsely and maliciously spoken, subsequently to her marriage, touching her character or reputation for chastity before and during her marriage. ARTICLE 57. Sec. I. — Limitation. Provides that among others all actions on the case for words shall be begun within one year. MASSACHUSETTS. CONSTITUTION, 1780. ARTICLE XVI. Declaration of Rights. The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a state ; it ought not, therefore, to be restrained in this commonwealth. PUBLIC STATUTES OF MASSACHUSETTS, 1882. CHAPTER 163. Sec. 3. *. * * No person shall be arrested on mesne pro- cess in a civil action for slander or libel. CHAPTER 167. Sec. 79. — If the defendant in an action for slander or for publishing a libel justifies that the words spoken or published were 46 MASSACHUSETTS. true, such allegation, though not maintained by the evidence, shall, not of itself be' proof of the malice alleged in the declaration. Sec. 8o. — In every prosecution and in every civil action for writing or for publishing a libel, the defendant may upon the trial give in evidence the truth of the matter contained in the publication charged as libelous ; and such evidence shall be deemed a suffi- cient justification, unless malicious intention is proved. Sec. 94. * * * JPorms of Declarations. Slander. And the plaintiff says that the defendant publicly, falsely, and maliciously accused the plaintiff of the crime of per- jury, by words spoken of the plaintiff substantially as follows. (Here set forth the words. No innuendoes are necessary.) (If the natural import of the words is not intelligible without further explanation, or reference to facts understood but not mentioned, or parts of the conversation not stated, in either of these cases, after setting forth the words, the declaration should contain a con- cise and clear statement of such things as are necessary to make the words relied on intelligible to the court and jury in the same sense in which they were spoken. This rule is applicable to actions for written and printed, as well as oral, slander.) Libel. And the plaintiff says the defendant caused to be pub- lished in a newspaper (describing it) a false and malicious libel concerning the plaintiff, copy whereof is hereto annexed. (Or if it is a picture, it may be described.) Sec. 94. * * * Forms of answers. Slander. And the defendant comes and upon his personal knowledge denies that he accused the plaintiff of the crime of per- jury as set forth in the plaintiff's first count. And as to the second count, he says the plaintiff did feloniously steal, take, and carry away ten dollars, the property of one S. T. in the possession of said S. T. being found, and converted the same to his own use, and so the plaintiff was guilty of the crime of theft and the defendant's accusation was true. CHAPTER 183. Sec. I — Provides that slander, either by writing or by speaking shall not be commenced by trustee process. CHAPTER 197. Sec. 3. — Limitations. Actions * * * for slanderous words and for libels, * * * shall be commenced within two years next after the cause of action accrues, and not afterwards. MICHIGAN. 47 CHAPTER 314. Sec. 13. — In a prosecution for writing or publishing a libel, the defendant may give in evidence in his defense upon the trial the truth of the matter contained in the publication charged as libel- ous, and such evidence shall be deemed a sufficient justification, unless malicious intention is proved. MICHIGAN. CONSTITUTION, 1850. ARTICLE IV. Sec. 42. — No law shall ever be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press; but every person may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of such right. ARTICLE VI. Sec. 25. — In all prosecutions for libels, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury ; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ^nds, the party shall be acquitted. The jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact. HOWELL'S ANNOTATED STATUTES OF MICHIGAN, 1882. TITLE 29, CHAPTER 349. Sec. 6815. — Provides that justices of the peace shall not have jurisdiction of actions for libel or slander, and certain others. TITLE 30, CHAPTER 363. Sec. 7547. — Issues of fact shall be tried in the proper county, as follows : TT t* t* V T* TT 2. — Actions of slander, for libels, * * * shall be tried in the county where one of the parties shall reside at the time of 48 MICHIGAN. commencing such action, unless the court shall deem it necessary for the convenience of parties and their witnesses, or for the pur- poses of a fair and impartial trial, to order any such issues to be tried in the county so designated. TITLE 30, CHAPTER 368. Sec. 7760. — Words imputing to any female the want of chas- tity, shall be deemed to be actionable in themselves and shall subject the person who shall utter and publish such words, to an action on the case for slander, in the same way as the uttering and publishing of words imputing the commission of a criminal offense. TITLE 30, CHAPTER 268. Sec. 7776. — If the defendant in any action for slander or for publishing a libel, shall give notice in a justification, that the words spoken or published were true, such notice, though not maintained by the evidence, shall not, in any case, be of itself proof of the malice charged in the declaration. TITLE 34, CHAPTER 302. Sec. 8714. — Limitations. * * * and all actions for slander- ous words, and for libels, shall be commenced within two years next after the cause of action shall accrue, and not afterward. TITLE 38, CHAPTER 313. Sec. 8965. — If the plaintiff in an action for assault and battery, or for false imprisonment, or for slanderous words, or for libel, recover less than fifty dollars, such plaintiff shall recover no more costs than damages. ' TITLE 40, CHAPTER 334. Sec. 9544- — An indictment for libel need not set forth any ex- trinsic facts, for the purpose of showing the application to the party libelled, of the defamatory matter on which the indictment is founded, but it shall be sufficient to state generally that the same was published of and concerning him. PUBLIC ACTS OF 1885. NO. 210, PAGE 287. Sec. 9315 of Howell's Annotated Statutes, relative to the punishment of libel and slander, as amended by the Act of 1885. Sec. 9315 — Sec. i. That any person who shall falsely and MICHIGAN. 49 maliciously, by word, writing, sign, or otherwise accuse, attribute, or impute to another the commission of any crime, felony, or mis- demeanor, or any infamous or degrading act, or impute or attribute to any female a want of chastity, shall be deemed guilty of a misde- meanor, and upon conviction for the first offense before any court of competent jurisdiction, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars and costs of prosecution, or imprisonment' in the county jail of the county in which such conviction shall be had, not exceeding ninety days, or both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court. Sec. 2. — No justice shall have jurisdiction to try any person for a second or subsequent violation of this act. Whenever it shall appear from the complaint that any person has been charged with a second or subsequent violation of this act, the justice before whom the complaint is made shall proceed therein, as provided by Chapter 332 of Howell's Annotated Statutes, being Chapter 259 of the Compiled Laws of 1871. Any person who shall be con- victed of a second or subsequent violation of the provisions of this act shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars and costs of prosecution, or imprisonment in the State House of Correction, at Ionia, not more than three years, or both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court; Provided, That no complaint for a second or subsequent offence under this act can be made before the justice who issued the first or any prior complaint against the same person for the same offense. NO. 233, PAGE 353. Sec. I. — The people of the State of Michigan enact: In any suits brought for the publication of a libel in any newspaper in this state the plaintiff shall recover only actual damages if it shall appear that the publication was made in good faith and did not involve a criminal charge, and its falsity was due to mistake or misapprehension of the facts, and that in the next regular issue of said newspaper after such mistake or misapprehension was brought to thc'knowledge of the publisher or publishers, whether before or after suit brought, a correction was published in as conspicuous a manner and place in said newspap»er as was the article sued on as libelous. Sec. 2. — In any action or suit for the publication of a libel in any newspaper in this state, the plaintiff shall not be entitled to recover, in addition to actual damages, any greater sum than five thousand dollars. 50 MINNESOTA. Sec. 3. — (As amended, page 153, No. 139, of Public Acts of 1887). The words " actual damages " in this act shall be con- strued to include all damages the plaintiff may show he has suffered in respect to his property, business, trade, profession or occupation, and no other damages. PUBLIC ACTS OF MICHIGAN, 1889. No. 229. — An Act relative to actions for libel. Page 339. Sec. I. — The People of the State of Michigan enact: That in actions for libel, if there is no proof of express malice, or the court or jury shall find that there was no such malice, then no exemplary or punitive damages shall be awarded, but such malice may be in- ferred from the nature and tone of the statements' claimed to be libelous. Sec. 2. — No exemplary or punitive damages shall be recovered unless the plaintiff shall, before bringing suit, give notice by mail or otherwise to the defendant to publish a retraction of the libel, and allow the defendant a reasonable time in which to publish such retraction, and make such amends as are reasonable and possible under the circumstances of the case; and proof of the publication of any such retraction or correction shall be admissible in evi- dence under the general issue on the question of the good faith of the defendant, and in mitigation and reduction of damages: Provided, That the retraction shall be published in the same type and in the same editions of the paper as the original libel, and, so far as practicable, in the same position. MINNESOTA. CONSTITUTION, 1857. ARTICLE I. Sec. 3. — Liberty of the press. The liberty of the press shall forever remain inviolate, and all persons may freely speak, write, and publish their sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of such right. MINNESOTA. 5 ' REVISED STATUTES OF MINNESOTA. KELLY, 1891. CIVIL ACTIONS— PLEADINGS. Sec. 4793. — In slander or libel. In an action for libel or slan- der, it shall not be necessary to state in the complaint any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the plaintiff of the defamatory matter out of which the cause of action arose ; but it shall be sufificient to state, generally, that the same was pub- lished or spoken concerning the plaintiff ; and if such allegatiop is controverted, the plaintiff is bound to establish, on trial, that it was so published or spoken. Sec. 4794. — Same — Justification — Mitigating circumstances. In the action mentioned in the last section, the defendant may, in his answer, allege both the truth of the matter charged as defamatory and any mitigating circumstances, to reduce the amount of dam-' ages ; and whether he proves the justification or not, he may give in evidence the mitigating circumstances. Sec. 4795. — Libel — Requirements before suit. Before any suit shall be brought for the publication of a libel in any newspaper in this state, the aggrieved party shall, at least three days before filing or serving the complaint in such suit, serve notice on the publisher or publishers of said newspaper at their principal office of publication, specifying the statements in the said articles which he or they allege to be false and defamatory, if it Shall appear, on the trial of said action, that the said article was published in good faith, that its falsity was due to mistake or misapprehension of the facts, and that a full and fair retraction of any statement therein alleged to be erroneous was published in the next regular issue of such newspaper, or in case of daily papers within three (3) days after such mistake or misapprehension was brought to the knowl- edge of such publisher or publishers, in as conspicuous a place and type in such newspaper as was the article complained of as libelous, then the plaintiff in such case shall recover only actual damages. Provided, however, that the provisions of this act shall not apply to the case of any libel against any candidate for a public office in this state, unless the retraction of the charge is made edi- torially in a conspicuous manner at least three days before the election, in case such libelous article was published in a daily paper ; and in case such libelous article was published in a weekly paper, at least ten days before the election. Provided, that noth- ing in the provisions of this act shall be held to apply to any libel published of or concerning any female. 52 MINNESOTA. WITNESSES AND EVIDENCE. Sec. 510 1. — In prosecutions for libel. In all criminal prosecu- tions or indictments for libel, the truth may be given in evidence ; and if it appears to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted ; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact. CIVIL ACTIONS. Sec. 4693. — Time of Commencing. Provides that actions for libel and slander and certain others shall be begun within two years. PENAL CODE— LIBEL. Sec. 6165. — Libel defined. A malicious publication, by writing, printing, picture, efifigy, sign, or otherwise than by mere speech, which exposes any living person, or the memory of any person deceased, to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or obloquy, or which causes, or tends to cause, any person to be shunned, or avoided, or which has a tendency to injure any person, corporation or association of per- sons, in his or their business or occupation, is a libel. Sec. 6166. — Libel a misdemeanor. A person who publishes a libel is guilty of a misdemeanor. Sec. 6177. — Malice presumed ; how justified or excused. A pub- lication having the tendency or effect mentioned in Section 211, is to be deemed malicious, if no justification or excuse thereof is shown. The publication is justified when the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published for good motives and for justi- fiable ends. The publication is excused when it is honestly made, in the belief of its truth and upon reasonable grounds for this belief, and consists of fair comments upon the conduct of a person in respect of public affairs. Sec. 6168. — Publication defined. To sustain a charge of pub- lishing a libel, it is not necessary that the matter complained of should have been seen by another. It is enough that the defendant knowingly displayed it, or parted with its immediate custody, under circumstances which exposed it to be seen or understood by another person than himself. Sec. 6169. — Liability of editors and others. Every editor or proprietor of a book, newspaper or serial, and every manager of a partnership or incorporated association, by which a book, news- paper or serial is issued, is chargeable with the publication of any MINNESOTA. 53 matter contained in such book, newspaper or serial. But in every prosecution for libel the defendant may show in his defense that the matter complained of was published without his knowledge or fault and against his wishes by another who had no authority from him to make the publication, and whose act was disavowed by him as soon as known. Sec. 6170. — Publishing a true report of public official proceedings. A prosecution for libel cannot be maintained against a reporter, editor, publisher or proprietor of a newspaper for the publication therein of a fair and true report of any judicial, legislative or other public and official proceeding, or of any statement, speech, argument or debate in the course of the same, without proving actual malice in making the report. Sec. 6171. — Qualification of last section. The last section does not apply to a libel contained in the heading of the report, or in any other matter added by any other person concerned in the publication, or in the report of anything said or done at the time and place of the public and official proceeding, which was not a part thereof. Sec. di"] 2. —Indictment for libel in newspaper. An indictment for a libel contained in a newspaper published within this state may be found in any county where the paper was published or circulated. Sec. 6173. — Punishment restricted. A person cannot be in- dicted or tried for the publication of the same libel, against the same person, in more than one county. Sec. 6174. — Privileged communications. A communication made to a person entitled to, or interested in, the communication, by one who is also interested or entitled to make it, or who stood in such a relation to the former as to afford a reasonable ground for supposing his rriotive innocent, is presumed not to be malicious, and is called a privileged communication. Sec. 6175. — Threatening to publish libel. A person who threatens another with the publication of a libel concerning the latter, or concerning any parent, husband, wife, child or other member of the family of the latter, and a person who offers to prevent the publication of a libel upon another person upon condition of the payment of, or with intent to extort money or other valuable con- sideration from any person, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 54 MINNESOTA. INDICTMENTS. VOLUME 1, CHAPTER 94. Sec. 6731. — Indictment for libel. An indictment for libel need not set forth any extrinsic facts, for the purpose of showing the application to the party libeled, of the defamatory matter on which the indictment is founded ; but it is sufficient to state gen- erally that the same was published concerning him ; and the fact that it was so published shall be established on the trial. Sec. 6719. — Forms. No. 26. — Indictment for libel. Published in a newspaper called ^jjg * * * (.jjg following libel concerning C. D.: (Here insert the article charged as being a libel.) Sec. 6418. — Blackmail. A person who, knowing the contents thereof, and with intent, by means thereof, to extort or gain any money or other property, or to do, abet or procure by illegal or wrongful act, sends, delivers or in any manner causes to be for- warded or received, or makes and parts with for the purpose that there may be sent or delivered, any letter or writing threatening — 1. To accuse any person of a crime; or 2. To do any injury to any person or any property ; or 3. To publish, or connive at publishing, any libel ; or 4. To expose or impute to any person any deformity or dis- grace is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than five years. GENERAL LAWS OF MINNESOTA. SESSION OF 1891. CHAPTER 86. An Act to amend the penal code of the State of Minnesota by adding to Title 9, of said penal code. Chapter 9, relating to slander of females. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota : Sec. I— That Title 9 of the penal code of the State of Minnesota be and and the same hereby is amended by adding to said Title 9 another and further chapter, to be known as Chapter 9 of said Title 9, and to read as follows : CHAPTER 9. Sec. 221A. — Slander of females defined. A person who, in the presence and hearing of another, other than the female slandered, MINNESOTA. 55 whether such female be present .or not, maliciously speaks of or concerning any female of the age of twelve years or upwards, not a public prostitute, any false or defamatory words or language, which injures or impairs the character of such female for virtue or chastity, and which exposes such female to hatred, contempt or ridicule, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Sec. 22iB. — Any slander mentioned in the preceding section is to be deemed malicious if no justification therefor is shown, and is justified when the language charged as slanderous, false or defama- tory is true, and was spoken for good motives and for justifiable ends. Sec. 22iC. — No conviction can be had under any of the provis- ions of this chapter upon the testimony of the female slandered unsupported by other evidence, but must be proven by the evidence of at least two persons, other than such female, who heard and understood the language charged as slanderous, or by the admis- sions of the defendant. Sec. 2. — This Act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. SESSION OF 1893. CHAPTER 4. Sec. 194. — Whoever writes, prints, posts or distributes, or causes to be written, printed, posted or distributed, a circular or poster or other written or printed paper, which is designed or tends to injure or defeat any candidate for nomination of election to any public office, by reflecting upon his personal character or political actions, unless the same shall be published in a newspaper avowedly responsible therefor, or unless there appears upon such circular, poster or paper in a conspicuous place either the names of the chairman and secretary, or at least the names of two officers of the political or other organization issuing the same, or the name of some duly registered elector, with description of his election district, as responsible therefor, shall be punished by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars or by imprisonment in jail not exceeding six months, or both ; and if the statements are untrue the person so offending shall also be deemed guilty of libel and may be prosecuted in the civil or criminal courts, or both thereof. S6 MISSISSIPPI. MISSISSIPPI, CONSTITUTION, 1890. ARTICLE III. Sec. i3.-^The freedom of speech and of the press shall be held sacred, and in all prosecutions for libel the truth may be given in evidence, and the jury shall determine the law and the facts under the direction of the court, and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justiSable ends, the party shall be acquitted. ANNOTATED CODE, MISSISSIPPI. THOMPSON, DILLARD & CAMPBELL, 1892. CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS. Sec. 1 197. — Libel, punishment therefor, etc. Any person who shall be convicted of writing or publishing any libel, shall be fined in such sum, or imprisoned in the county jail for such term as the court, in its discretion, may adjudge, having regard to the nature and enormity of the offense, or be punished by both such fine and imprisonment. Sec. 1 198. — The truth, good motives, justifiable ends, etc. In every criminal prosecution for libel it shall be lawful for the defendant, upon the trial, to give in evidence the truth of the matter written or published, and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the defendant shall be acquitted. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE. Sec. 1360. — Indictment — Requisites in cases of libel. An indict- ment for libel need not set forth any extrinsic facts to show the application of the dematory matter charged in the indictment to the party libeled, but it shall be sufficient to charge generally that the same Was published of and concerning him, and the fact that it was so published must be proved on the trial. MISSOURI. 57 CiViL ACTIONS. Sec. io. — Certain words actionable. All words which, from their usual construction and common acceptation, are considered as insults, and lead to violence and breaches of the peace, shall be actionable ; and a plea, exception or demurrer shall not be sus- tained to preclude a jury from passing thereon, who are the sole judges of the damages sustained ; but these shall not deprive the court of the power to grant new trials, as in other cases. Sec. 680. — Declaration for libel or slander. In actions for libel or slander the plaintiff may aver that the words or matter com- plained of were used in a defamatory sense, specifying such sense, without any prefatory averment to show how such words or matter were used in that sense ; and such averment shall be put in issue by the denial of the alleged libel or slander ; and where the words or matter set forth, with or without the alleged meaning, show a cause of action, the declaration shall be sufficient. Sec. 685. — Mitigating circumstances. In actions for libel or slander, assault and battery and false imprisonment, the defend- ant, under the plea of not guilty, may give in evidence any miti- gating circumstances to reduce the damages, notwithstanding he may also have pleaded a justification. Sec. 878. — Costs not recovered in some cases; limited in others. In actions of * * * libel and slander, if the plaintiff recovers less than ten dollars, costs shall not be awarded him. Sec. 2742. — Limitations. All actions for * * * slanderous words concerning the person and title, and for libels, shall be commenced within one year next after the cause of such action accrued, and not after. MISSOURI. CONSTITUTION, 1875. BILL OF RIGHTS. ARTICLE II. Sec. 14. — Freedom of speech, press — Libel, truth in justification. That no law shall be passed impairing the freedom of speech ; that every person shall be free to say, write or publish what- 58 MISSOURI. ever he will on any subject, being responsible for all abuse of that liberty ; and that in all suits and prosecutions for libel the truth thereof may be given in evidence and the jury, under the direction of the court, shall determine the law and the fact. REVISED STATUTES OF MISSOURI, 1889. CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS. VOLUME 1, CHAPTER 47. ARTICLE VIII. Sec. 3868. — Slander. Every person who shall falsely and mali- ciously charge or accuse any female of incest, fornication, adultery or whoredom, by falsely speaking of and concerning such female, in the presence and hearing of any other person or persons, any false and slanderous words which shall impute to her any such offense, or who shall in like manner falsely and maliciously charge any person with incest, or the infamous crime against nature, or with any felony, the commission of which would subject such per- son to disenfranchisement and other degrading penalties, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. Sec. 3869. — Libel defined. A libel is a malicious defamation of a person made public by any printing, writing, sign, picture, repre. sentation or effigy tending to provoke him to wrath or expose him to public hatred, contempt or ridicule, or to deprive him of the benefits of public confidence and social intercourse or any mali- cious defamation made public as aforesaid, designed to blacken and villify the memory of one who is dead, and tending to scandal- ize or provoke his surviving relatives and friends. Sec. 3870. — Libel a misdemeanor. Eyery person who shall make or compose, dictate or procure the same to be done, or shall wilfully publish or circulate any such libel or libels specified in the next preceding section or shall in any way knowingly and wilfully aid or assist in making, publishing or circulating the same, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. Sec. 3871. — Publishing necessary. No printing, writing, or other thing is a libel unless there has been a publication thereof, by de- livering, selling, reading, or otherwise communicating the same or causing the same to be delivered, sold, read, or otherwise com- municated to one or more persons, or to the party libelled, or by exposing or exhibiting such libelous thing or matter in some pub- lic place, or where it may be seen or observed by the public. Sec. 3872. — Evidence in prosecutions. In all prosecutions for MONTANA. 59 libel or verbal slander, the truth thereof may be given in evidence to the jury, and shall constitute a complete defence; and the jury, under the direction of the court, shall determine the law and the fact. CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. CHAPTER 1, ARTICLE V. Sec. 97. — Provides that actions for libel and slander shall not survive to the administrator or executor. CHAPTER 33, ARTICLE V. Sec. 2080. — Libel and slander, actions on. In an action for libel or slander, it shall not be necessary to state in the petition any extrinsic facts, for the purpose of showing the application to the plaintiff of the defamatory matter out of which the cause of action arose, but it shall be sufficient to state, generally, that the same was published or spoken concerning the plaintiff ; and if such allegation be not controverted in the answer, it shall not be neces- sary to prove it on the trial ; in other cases it shall be necessary. CHAPTER 33, ARTICLE V. Sec. 208 t. — Libel or slander — Plea in defence. In the actions mentioned in the last preceding section, defendant may, in his answer, allege both the truth of the matter charged as defamatory and any mitigating circumstances admissible in evidence, to re- duce the amount of damages ; and whether he prove the justifi- cation or not, he may give in evidence the mitigating circum- stances. CHAPTER 103, ARTICLE II. Sec. 6777. — Limitations. Provides that, among others, actions for libel and slander shall be brought within two years. MONTANA. CONSTITUTION, 1889. ARTICLE III. Sec. 10. — No law shall be passed impairing the freedom of speech; every person shall be free to speak, write or publish what- 6o MONTANA. ever he will on any subject, being responsible for all abuse of that liberty; and that in all suits and prosecutions for libel, the truth thereof may be given in evidence ; and the jury, under the direc- tion of the court, shall determine the law and the facts. COMPILED STATUTES OF MONTANA, 1887. CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. DIVISION 1, TITLE 3, CHAPTER 3. Sec. 45. — Third. Actions for libel * * * shall be com- menced within one year from the time the cause of action accrued. DIVISION I, TITLE 6, CHAPTER 7. Sec. 107. — In an action for libel or slander, it shall not be necessary to state in the complaint any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the plaintiff of the defama- tory matter out of which the cause of action arose; but it shall be sufficient to state generally that the same was published or spoken concerning the plaintiff; and if such allegation be controverted, the plaintiff shall establish, on the trial, that it was so published or spoken. Sec. 108. — In the actions mentioned in the last section, the defendant may, in his answer, allege both the truth of the matter charged as defamatory and any mitigating circumstances, to re- duce the amount of damages; and whether he prove the justifica- tion or not, he may give in evidence the mitigating circumstances. CRIMINAL PRACTICE ACT. DIVISION 3, CHAPTER 8. Sec. 190, — An indictment for libel need not set forth any ex- trinsic facts, for the purpose of showing the application to the party libelled of the defamatory matter on which the indictment is founded, but it shall be sufficient to state, generally, that the same was published concerning him, and the fact, that it was so pub- lished must be established on the trial. CRIMINAL LAW. DIVISION 4, CHAPTER 8. Sec. 154. — A libel is a malicious defamation expressed either by printing, or by signs or pictures, or the like, intended to blacken the memory of one who is dead, or to impeach the honesty, NEBRASKA, 6l integrity, virtue or reputation, or publish the natural defects of one who is alive, and thereby expose him or her to public hatred, contempt or ridicule. Every person, whether the writer or pub- lisher, convicted of the offense, shall be fined in a sum not exceed- ing five thousand dollars, or imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months. In all prosecutions for libel the truth may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous was true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be ac- quitted; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact. NEBRASKA. CONSTITUTION, 1875. ARTICLE I. Sec. 5. — Freedom of speech. Every person may freely speak write, and publish on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty ; aud in all trials for libel, both civil and criminal, the truth, when published with good motives and for justifiable ends, shall be a sufficient defense. COMPILED STATUTES OF NEBRASKA, 1893. CRIMINAL CODE. CHAPTER 7. Sec. 47. — Libel. If any person shall write, print, or publish any false and malicious libel of, or concerning another, or shall cause or procure any such libel to be written or published, every person so offending shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not exceeding five hundred (500) dollars, or be imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding six (6) months, or both, at the dis- cretion of the court, and, moreover, be liable to the party injured. Provided, that if said libel is published in a newspaper having a general circulation, the person so offending shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than one (i) nor more than three (3) years. 62 NEBRASKA. CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. PART 3, TITLE" 2. Sec. 13. — Provides actions for libel and slander shall be brought within one year. CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. PART 2, TITLE 7. Sec. 131. — Liiel — Slander. In an action for libel or slander it shall be sufficient to state, generally, that the defamatory matter was published or spoken of the plaintiff, and if the allegation be denied, the plaintiff must prove, on the trial, the facts showing that the defamatory matter was published or spoken of him. Sec. 132. — Same— Defense — Truth. In the actions mentioned in the last section, the defendant may allege the truth of the matter charged as defamatory, and may prove the same, and any mitigat- ing circumstances to reduce the amount of the damages, or he may prove either. PART 2, TITLE 17. Sec. 621. — Provides inter alia that in actions for libel and slander if the damages be assessed under five dollars, the plaintiff shall not recover any costs. CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. PART 3, TITLE 12. Sec. 455.— No action pending in any court shall abate by the death of either or both parties thereto, except an action for libel slander, * * * which shall abate by the death of the defendant. PART 2, TITLE 30. Sec 907. — Provides that, among others, justices of the peace shall not have cognizence of any actions for slander, verbal or written. PART 1, CHAPTER 20. Sec 2. — Provides inter alia that county courts shall not have jurisdiction of actions for slander and libel. PART 1, CHAPTER 48. Sec 4. — Not liable for words spoken in debate. No member of the legislative assembly shall be questioned in any other place for any speech or words spoken in debate in either house. NEVADA. 63 NEVADA. CONSTITUTION, 1864. ARTICLE 1. Sec. 9. — Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right ; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions, and civil actions for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libel- ous is true, and was published with good motives, and for justi- fiable ends, the party shall be acquitted or exonerated. GENERAL STATUTES OF NEVADA. BAILY & HAMMOND, 1885. Sec. 4672. — Crimes and punishment. A libel is a malicious de- famation, expressed either by printing, or by signs, or pictures, or the like, tending to blacken the memory of one who is dead, or to impeach the honesty, integrity, virtue or reputation, or publish the natural defects of one who is alive, and thereby to expose him or her to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule ; every person, whether the writer or the publisher, convicted of the offense, shall be fined in a sum not exceeding five thousand dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding six months. In all prosecutions for libel the truth may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it shall ap-. pear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motive and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted, and the jury shall have the right to deter- mine the law and the fact. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE. Sec. 4264. — On the trial of an indictment for libel, the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact. CIVIL PROCEDURE. Sec. 3084. — In an action for libel or slander,it shall not be necessary to state in the complaint any extrinsic facts for 64 NEW HAMPSHIRE. the purpose of showing the application to the plaintiff of the defamatory matter out of which the cause of action arose ; but it shall be sufficient to state generally that the same was published or spoken concerning the plaintiff ; and if such allegation be con- troverted, the plaintiff shall establish on the trial that it was so published or spoken. Sec. 3085. — In the actions mentioned in the last section, the defendant may, in his answer, allege both the truth of the mat- ter charged as defamatory, and any mitigating circumstances to reduce the amount of the damages ; and, whether he prove the justification or not, he may give in evidence the mitigating cir- cumstances. CIVIL PROCEDURE. Sec. 3644. — Limitation. Provides inter alia that an action for libel or slander must be brought within two years. NEW HAMPSHIRE. CONSTITUTION, 1792. BILL OF RIGHTS. ARTICLE -1% The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a state ; it ought, therefore, to be inviolably preserved. PUBLIC STATUTES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1891. CHAPTER 223. Sec. 6. — In actions for libel or slander, under the general issue, the defendant may prove, in mitigation of damages and to rebut evidence of actual malice, that the writing or words com- plained of were the repetition of common report, and that the conduct of the plaintiff was such as to create suspicion of the truth of the matters therein charged against him. CHAPTER 229. Sec. s provides that in actions for defamation of character be- gun in the Supreme Court no more costs than damages shall be NEW JERSEY. 65 recovered unless the damages recovered exceed thirteen dollars and thirty-three cents ($13.33). CHAPTER 217. Sec. 3. — Actions of trespass to the person and actions for defamatory words may be brought within two years, and all other personal actions within six years, after the cause of action accrued, and not afterward. NEW JERSEY. CONSTITUTION, 1844. ARTICLE I. Sec. 5. Every person may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right. No law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all prosecutions or indictments for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury ; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted ; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact. REVISED STATUTES OF NEW JERSEY, 1877. VOLUME I.— CRIMINAL STATUTES. ARTICLE XXI, PAGE 381. Sec. 2. — Evidence. In any prosecution for libel, either against the government of this State, or any of the officers thereof, or against any other person, it shall be lawful for the defendant, upon the trial of the cause, to give in evidence in his defense, the truth of the matter charged in the indictment, any law, usage or custom to the contrary notwithstanding. VOLUME I.- CIVIL ACTIONS. ARTICLE I, PAGE 594. Sec. I. — Limitation of actions. Provides that all actions upon the case, except actions for slander, shall be commenced and sued- 5 66 NEW JERSEY. within six years next after the cause of such actions shall have accrued, and not after. ARTICLE III, PAGE 594. That every action upon the case for words shall be commenced and sued within two years- next after the words spoken, and not after. VOLUME II.— PRACTICE. SECTION 7, PAR. 134, PAGE 868. In actions of libel and slander the plaintiff shall be at liberty to aver that the words or matter complained of were used in a defamatory sense, specifying such defamatory sense, without any prefatory averment to show how such words or matter were used in that sense, and such averment shall be put in issue by the denial of the alleged libel or slander; and where the words or matters set forth, with or without the alleged meaning, show a cause of action, the declaration shall be sufficient. SECTION 16, ARTICLE 277, PAGE 892. In actions for assault, battery, or imprisonment, or for slander or libel, if the plaintiff shall not recover damages to the amount of fifty dollars, he shall recover no more costs than damages. VOLUME I.— JUSTICES' COURT. SECTION 1, ARTICLE I, PAGE 538. Provides inter alia that justices shall not have jurisdiction of actions of slander. SUPPLEMENT TO THE REVISED STATUTES, 1886. LAW PASSED 1884, PAGE 200. Sec. 45. — Crimes. No indictment for libel shall be found against any corporation, individual or co-partnership publishing any newspaper, magazine or periodical within this state, or any editor, reporter, writer or other employ^ thereon, or correspondent thereof for any matter, item or thing published in any such news- paper unless such indictment be found by the grand jury of the county within which the office of publication of such newspaper is located, or within which the party alleged to have been libelled resides, at the time of the alleged libelous publication. NEW MEXICO. ^7 COMPILED LAWS OF NEW MEXICO, 1884. TITLE 9, CHAPTER 5. Sec. 953. — Slander in churches. If any minister of the gospel of any denomination whatever, or any other person shall, by word or in any other manner, slander any other person or persons within any temple, upon conviction, by complaint being made to any justice of the peace shall be fined in any sum not exceeding fifty dollars, nor less than twenty-five dollars. TITLE 33, CHAPTER 2. Sec. 1864. — Provides that among others, actions for the injuries to the reputation shall be brought within two years. TITLE 33, CHAPTER 14. Sec. 2139. — No action pending in any court shall abate by the death of either or both the parties thereto, except an action for slander or libel * * * * ^ which shall abate by the death of the defendant. TITLE 38, CHAPTER 1. Sec. 2589. — In prosecutions for the publication of papers inves- tigating the ofHcial conduct of officers or men in a public capacity, or when the matter published is proper for public information, the truth thereof may be given in evidence. And in all indictments for libels the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts under the direction of the court as in other cases. SESSION LAWS OF NEW MEXICO, 1889. CHAPTER 36, FORMS. PAGE 49. Par. 30. — That the defendant falsely, and maliciously spoke and published of the plaintiff the words following, that is to say : " he is a thief " (if there be any special damage, here state it with such reasonable particularity as to give -notice to the defendant of the particular injury complained of, for instance) whereby the plaintiff lost his situation of bookkeeper in the Bank of Tesuque. Par. 31. That the defendant falsely and maliciously printed and published in a newspaper called "The Examiner," the words following, that is to say : he foreswore himself. 68 NEW YORK. NEW YORK. CONSTITUTION, 1894. ARTICLE I. Sec. 8. Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right ; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions or indictments for libels, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury ; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted ; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact. REVISED STATUTES. CODES AND LAWS OF NEW YORK. BY C. F. BIRDSEYE. 1890. VOLUME I.— ASSIGNMENT. PAGE 124. Par. 2. — Provides inter alia that claims or demands to recover damages for a personal injury cannot be transferred. PAGE 283. Par. I. — Blackmail — Definition and punishment. A person who, knowing the contents thereof, and with intent, by means thereof, to extort or gain any money or other property, or to do, abet, or procure any illegal or wrongful act, sends, delivers, or in any manner causes to be forwarded or received, or makes and parts with for the purpose that there may be sent or delivered, any letter or writing, threatening : 1. To accuse any person of a crime ; or 2. To do any injury to any person or any property ; or 3. To publish or connive at publishing any libel ; or 4. To expose or impute to any person any deformity or dis- grace, is punishable by imprisonment for not more than five years. NEW YORK. 69 CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. VOLUME I, PAGE 513. Par. 9. — A "personal injury" includes libel, slander, * * * COSTS. VOLUME I, PAGE 715. Sec. 23. — To plaintiff , of course. The plaintiff is entitled to costs, of course, upon the rendering of a final judgment in his favor, in either of the following actions : 3. Note. — Section 3 provides that if the plaintiff recovers less than fifty dollars damages in libel or slander and several other actions, the amount of his costs cannot exceed the damages. EXECUTORS AND ADMINISTRATORS. VOLUME I, PAGE 1,130. Par. 166. — Provides inter alia that actions for slander and libel shall not survive to the executor or administrator. INDICTMENT. VOLUME II, PAGE 1,474. Par. 24. — Innuendo in indictment for libel. An indictment for libel need not set forth any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the party libelled, of the defamatory matter on which the indictment is founded ; but it is sufficient to state, generally, that the same was published concerning him ; and the fact that it was so published must be established on the trial. JURISDICTION. VOLUME II, PAGE 1,715. Par. 6. — Libel. When a crime of libel is committed by publica- tion in any paper in this state, against a person residing in the state, the jurisdiction is in either the county where the paper is published, or in the cour^ty where the party libelled resides. But the defendant may have the place of trial changed to the county where the libel was printed, on executing a bond to the complain- ant in the penal sum of not less than $250, nor more than f 1,000, conditioned, in case the defendant is convicted, for the payment of the complainant's reasonable and necessary traveling expenses in going to and from his place of residence and the place of trial, and his necessary expenses in attendance thereon, which bond must be signed by two sufficient sureties, to be approved by the judge of a court of record exercising criminal jurisdiction. 70 NEW YORK. Whenever the crime of libel is committed against a person not a resident of this state, the defendant must be indicted and the trial thereof had in the county where the libel was printed and published. But if the paper does not, upon its face, purport to be printed or published in a particular county of this state, the defendant may be indicted and the trial thereof had in any county where the paper is circulated. In no case, however, can the defendant be indicted for the printing or publication of one libel in more than one county of this state. JUSTICES' COURTS. VOLUME II, PAGE 1,720. Sec. 3. Par. 3. — Provides inter alia that justices shall not have jurisdiction of actions for libel and slander. LEGISLATURE. VOLUME II, PAGE 1,807. Par. 16. — Breach of privilege — When punishable. Each house has power to punish as a contempt, and by imprisonment, a breach of its privileges, or of the privileges of its members ; but such power shall not hereafter be exercised, except against persons guilty of one or more of the following offenses * * * 3. That of publishing a false and malicious report of the proceedings of the house, or of the conduct of a member in his legislative capacity. LIBEL. VOLUME II., PAGE 1,821. Par. I. — Report of judicial, etc., proceedings, when privileged. An action, civil or criminal, cannot be maintained against a re- porter, editor, publisher, or proprietor of a newspaper, for the publication therein of a fair and true report of any judicial, legis- lative, or other public and official proceeding, without proving actual malice in making the report. Par.' 2. — Last section qualified. The last section does not apply to a libel, contained in the heading of a report ; or in any other matter, added by any person concerned in the publication ; or in the report of anything said or done, at the time and place of the public and official proceedings, which was not a part thereof. Par. 3. — Libel defined. A malicious publication, by writing, printing, picture, effigy, sign or otherwise than by mere speech,, which exposes any living person, or the memory of any person de- ceased, to hatred, contempt, ridicule or obloquy, or which causes. NEW YORK. 71 or tends to cause, any person to be shunned or avoided, or which has a tendency to injure any person, corporation or association of persons, in his or their business or occupation, is a libel. Par. 4. — Libel a misdemeanor. A person who publishes a libel is guilty of a misdemeanor. Par. 5. — Libel presumed. — Justification. — Excuse. A publication having the tendency or effect, mentioned in Section 242 (Section 3 preceding) is to be deemed malicious, if no justification or excuse therefor is shown. The publication is justified when the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends. The publication is excused when it is honestly made, in the belief of its truth and upon reasonable grounds for this belief, and consists of mere comments upon the conduct of a person in respect to public affairs or upon a thing which the proprietor thereof offers or explains to the public. Par, 6. — Publication defined. To sustain a charge of publishing a libel, it is not necessary that the matter complained of should have been seen by another. It is enough that the defendant knowingly displayed it, or parted with its immediate custody under circumstances which exposed it to be seen or understood by another person than himself. Par. 7. — Liability of editors and publishers. Every editor, or proprietor of a book, newspaper or serial, and every manager of a partnership or incorporated association, by which a book, news- paper or serial is issued, is chargeable with the publication of any matter contained in such book, newspaper or serial. But in every prosecution for libel the defendant may show in his defense that the matter complained of was published without his knowledge or fault and against his wishes, by another who had no authority from him to make the publication, and whose act was disavowed by him so soon as known. Par. 8. — Publishing true report of public official proceedings. A prosecution for libel cannot be maintained against a reporter, editor, publisher, or proprietor of a newspaper, for a publication therein, of a fair and true report of any judicial, legislative or other public and official proceeding, or of any statement, speech, argument or debate in the course of the same, without proving actual malice in rnaking the report. Par. 9. — Last section qualified. The last section does not apply to a libel contained in the heading of the report, or in any other matter added by any other person concerned in the publication ; or in a report of anything said or done at the time and place of the public and official proceeding, which was not a part thereof. 72 NEW YORK. Par. io. — Indictment J or libel in neivspaper, where found and tried. An indictment for libel contained in a newspaper published within this state, against a resident thereof, may be found either in the county where the paper was published, or in the county where the person libeled resided when the offense was committed. In the latter case the defendant is entitled to an order of the Supreme Court, directing the indictment against him to be tried in the county in which the paper was printed and published, upon compliance with the following conditions : 1. He must apply for the order within thirty days after being committed, or giving bail to answer to the indictment. 2. He must execute a bond to the complainant with two sufifi- cient sureties, approved by the judge hearing his application, in a penal sum fixed by the judge, not less than two hundred and fifty nor more than one thousand dollars, conditioned for the payment, in case the defendant is convicted, of all the complainant's reason- able expenses in going to and from his place of residence and the place of trial, and in attendance upon the trial. 3. He must, within ten days after the granting of the order, file the order and deposit the bond with the clerk of the county in which the indictment is pending. Par. II. — Same, for libel against non-resident. An indictment for a libel published against a person not a resident of this state must be found and tried in the county where the paper containing the libel purports upon its face to be published ; or, if no county is indicated upon the face of the paper, in any county where the paper was circulated. Par. 12. — Offender to be indicted in but one county. A person cannot be indicted or tried for a publication of the same libel, against the same person, in more than one county. Par. 13. — Changing place of trial. Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to abridge, or in any manner affect, the power of a competent court to change the place of trial of an in- dictment for libel in the same manner as may lawfully be done in respect to any other indictment. Par. 14. — Privileged communications. A communication made to a person entitled to or interested in the communication, by one who is also interested in or entitled to make it, or who stood in such a relation to the former as to afford a reasonable ground for supposing his motive innocent, is presumed not to be malicious, and is called a privileged communication. Par. 15. — Threatening to publish libel. A person who threatens another with a publication of a libel, concerning the latter or con- NEW YORK. 73 cerning any parent, husband, wife, child, or other member of the family of the latter, and a person who offers to prevent the publi- cation of a libel upon another person upon condition of the pay- ment of, or intent to extort, money or other valuable considera- tion from any person, is guilty of a misdemeanor. VOLUME II. PAGE 1849. Par. 23. — Limitations. Provides inter alia that an action for libel or slander shall be brought within two years. PAGE 3333. Par. 12. — Pleadings — What causes of action may be joined in the same complaint. The plaintiff may unite in the same complaint two or more causes of action, whether they are such as were for- merly denominated legal or equitable, or both, where they are brought to recover as follows ; * * * 2. For personal injuries, except libel, slander, * * * 3. For libel or slander. PAGE 3338. Par. 32. — Pleadings. A partial defense may be set forth, as pre- scribed in the last section ; but it must be expressly stated to be a par- tial defense to the entire complaint, or to one or more separate causes of action therein set forth. Upon a demurrer thereto, the question is, whether it is sufificient for that purpose. Matter tending only to mitigate or reduce damages, in an action to recover for the breach of a promise to marry, or for a personal injury, or an in- jury to property, is a partial defense, within the meaning of this section. PAGE • 3343. Sec. 58. — Pleadings — Pleadings in libel and slander. It is not necessary, in an action for libel or slander, to state in the com- plaint any extrinsic fact, for the purpose of showing the applica- tion to the plaintiff, of the defamatory matter ; but the plaintiff may state, generally, that it was published or spo,ken concerning "him ; and, if that allegation be controverted, the plaintiff must es- tablish it on the trial. In such an action the defendant may prove mitigating circumstances, notwithstanding that,he has plead- ed or attempted to prove a justification. 74 NEW YORK. VOLUME III. PAGE 2731. Slander. In an action of slander, brought by a woman, for words imputing unchastity to her, it is not necessary to allege or prove special damages. If the plaintiff is married, the damages re- covered are her separate property. Rights, bill of. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right ; and no law can be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. Sec. 21. — In all criminal prosecutions or indictments for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury ; and if it shall ap- pear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives, and for justifiable ends, the party is to be acquitted, and the jury shall have the right to de- termine the law and the fact. PAGE 3165. Par. 292 — Trials — On indictment for libel, the jury to determine law and fact. On the trial of an indictment for libel, the jury have the right to determine the law and the fact. Par. 293. — Provides that in all other cases questions of law are to be decided by the court. PAGE 3167. Par. 310. — Trials — Verdict may be general or special. The jury may either render a general verdict, or, when they are in doubt as to the legal effects of the facts proved, they may, except upon an indictment for libel, find a special verdict. LAWS OF NEW YORK, 1894. CHAPTER 626. Any person who wilfully stat'es, delivers, or transmits by any means whatever, to any manager, editor, publisher, reporter or other employ^ of a publisher of any newspaper, magazine, publi- cation, periodical or serial, any statement concerning any person or corporation which, if published therein, would be a libel, is guilty of a misdemeanor. NORTH CAROLINA. 75 NORTH CAROLINA. CONSTITUTION, 1868. BILL OF RIGHTS. Sec. 20. — Freedom of the press. The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and therefore ought never to be restrained, but every individual shall be held responsible for the abuse of the same. CODE OF NORTH CAROLINA. DORTCH, MANNING & HENDERSON, 1883. VOLUME I.— CRIMES AND PUNISHMENT. Sec. 1 1 13. — Slander of woman by charge of incontinency — Penalty. If any person shall attempt, in a wanton and malicious manner, to destroy the reputation of an innocent woman, by words written or spoken, which amount to a charge of incontinency, every person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined or imprisoned in the discretion of the court. VOLUME I.-CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS. Sec. 1195. — In indictment for libel the defendant may give the truth in evidence. Every defendant who shall be charged by indictment with the publication of a libel may prove on the trial for the same, the truth of the facts alleged in the indictment ; and if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the jury that the facts are true, the defendant shall be acquitted of the charge. VOLUME II.— SLANDER OF WOMAN. Sec.. 3763. — What words spoken of women shall be actionable. Whereas, doubts having arisen whether actions of slander can be maintained against persons who may attempt, in a wanton and malicious manner, to destroy the reputation of innocent and unprotected women, whose very existence in society depends upon 7^ NORTH DAKOTA. the unsullied purity of their character ; therefore any words written or spoken of a woman which may amount to a charge of incontinency, shall be actionable. VOLUME I.— CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. Sec. 156. — Paragraph 3 provides that actions for libel and cer- tain others must be brought within one year. * Sec. 157. — Provides that actions for slander shall be brought within six months. VOLUME I.— CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. Sec. 265. — Libel and slander, how stated in complaint. In an action for libel or slander, it shall not be necessary to state in. the com- plaint any extrinsic facts, for the purpose of showing the applica- tion to the plaintiff of the defamatory matter out of which the cause of action arose ; but it shall be sufficient to state generally that the same was published or spoken concerning the plaintiff ; and if such allegation be controverted, the plaintiff shall be bound to establish, on trial, that it was so published or spoken. Sec. 266. — Answer in such cases. In the actions mentioned in the preceding section, the defendant may, in his answer, allege both the truth of the matter charged as defamatory, and any miti- gating circumstances to reduce the amount of damages ; and whether he prove the justification or not, he may give in evidence the mitigating circumstances. NORTH DAKOTA. CONSTITUTION, 1889. ARTICLE I. Sec 9. — Every man may freely write, speak and publish his opinions on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse, of that privilege. In all civil and criminal trials for libel the truth may be given in evidence, and shall be a sufficient defense when the matter is published with good motives and for justifiable ends ; and the jury shall have the same power of giving a general ver- NORTH DAKOTA. "JJ diet as in other cases ; and in all indictments of informations for libel, the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts under the direction of the court as in other cases. COMPILED LAWS OF DAKOTA, 1887. PENAL CODE. LIBEL. CHAPTER m. Sec. 65 1 1. — Any malicious injury to good name, other than by words orally spoken, is a libel. Sec. 6512. Every person who wilfully, and with malicious intent to injure another, publishes any libel, is guilty of a mis- demeanor. Sec. 6513. — An injurious publication is presumed to have been malicious, if no justifiable motive for making it is shown. Sec. 6514. — In all criminal prosecutions or indictments for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted. Sec. 6515. — To sustain a charge of publishing a libel it is not needful that the words complained of should have been read by any person. It is enough that the accused knowingly parted with the immediate custody of the libel under circumstances which exposed it to be read by any other person than himself. Sec. 6516. — Each author, editor, and proprietor of any book, newspaper, or serial publication, and each member of any partner- ship or incorporated association by which any book, newspaper, or serial publication is issued, is chargeable with the publication of any words contained in any part of said book, or number of such newspaper or serial. Sec. 6517. — No reporter, editor or proprietor of any newspaper is liable to any prosecution for a fair and true report of any judi- cial, legislative or other public official proceedings, or of any statement, speech, argument or debate in the course of the same, except upon proof of malice in making such report, which shall in no case be implied from the mere fact of publication. Sec. 6518. — Libelous remarks or comments connected with matter privileged by the last section, receive no privilege by reason of their being so connected. Sec. 6519. — A communication made to a person interested in the communication, by one who was also interested, or who stood 78 NORTH DAKOTA. in such relation to the former as to afford a reasonable ground for supposing his motive innocent, is not presumed to be malicious, and is called a privileged communication. Sec. 6520. — Every person who threatens another to publish a libel concerning him, or any parent, or husband, wife or child of such person, or member of his family, is guilty of a misdemeanor. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE. TITLE 6, CHAPTER 2. Sec. 7254. — An indictment for libel need not set forth any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the party libeled of the defamatory matter on which the indictment is founded, but it is sufficient to state generally that the same was published concerning him, and the fact that it was so pub- lished must be established on trial. TITLE 8, CHAPTER 2. Sec. 7373. — On the trial of an indictment for libel the jury have the right to determine the law and the fact. TITLE 8, CHAPTER 4. Sec. 7420. — The jury may either render a general verdict, or when they are in doubt as to the legal effect of the facts proved they may, except upon an indictment for libel, find a special verdict. CIVIL CODE. DIVISION 1, PART 2. Sec. 2526. — Personal rights. Besides the personal rights men- tioned or recognized in the Political Code every person has, sub- ject to the qualifications and restrictions provided by law, the right of protection from bodily restraint or harm, from personal insult, from defamation and from injury to his personal relations. Sec. 2527. — Defamation is effected by — 1. Libel, or, 2. Slander. Sec. 2528. — Libel is a false and unprivileged publication by writing, printing, picture, effigy or other fixed representation to the eye which exposes any person to hatred, contempt, ridicule or obloquy, or which causes him to be shunned or avoided, or which has a tendency to injure him in his occupation. Sec. 2529. — Slander is a false and unprivileged publication, other than libel, which — NORTH DAKOTA. 79 1. Charges any person with crime, or with having been in- dicted, convicted or punished for crime. 2. Imputes in him the presence of an infectious, contagious or loathsome disease. 3. Tends directly to injure him in respect to his ofiSce, pro- fession, trade or business, either by imputing to him general dis- qualification in these respects which the office or other occupation peculiarly requires, or by imputing something with reference to his office, profession, trade or business that has a natural tendency to lessen its profit. 4. Imputes to him impotence or want of chastity, or 5. Which, by natural consequence, causes actual damage. Sec. 2530 — A privileged communication is one made — 1. In the proper discharge of an official duty. 2. In any legislative or judicial proceeding, or in any other official proceeding authorized by law. 3. In a communication without malice, to a person interested therein by one who is also interested, or by one who stands in such relation to the person interested as to afford a reasonable ground for supposing the motive for the communication innocent, or who is requested by the person interested to give the informa- tion. 4. By a fair and true report, without malice, of a judicial, legis- lative or other official proceeding or of anything said in the course thereof. 5. In the cases provided for in Subdivisions 3 and 4 of this section, malice is not inferred from the communication or publication. CIVIL PROCEDURE. PART 2, CHAPTER 6. ARTICLE III. Sec. 4852 — Provides that actions for slander and libel must be brought within two years. CHAPTER 9, ARTICLE 5. Sec. 4929 — In an action for libel or slander, it shall not be necessary to state in the complaint any extrinsic facts, for the pur- pose of showing the application to the plaintiff of the defamatory matter out of which the cause of action arose,'but it shall be sufficient to state generally that the same was published or spoken concerning the plaintiff, and if such allegation be controverted. 80 OHIO. the plaintiff shall be bound to establish, on trial, that it was so published or spoken. Sec. 4930. — In the actions mentioned in the last section, the defendant may, in his answer, allege both the truth of the matter charged as defamatory and any mitigating circumstances, to reduce the amount of damages ; and whether he prove the justi- fication or not, he may give, in evidence, the mitigating circum- stances. CHAPTER 15. Sec. 5191. — Costs shall be allowed of course to the plaintiff upon a recovery in the following cases : ******* 4. * * But in an action for * * * libel, slander * * if the plaintiff recovers less than fifty dollars damages, he shall recover no more costs and disbursements than damages. * * OHIO. CONSTITUTION, 1851. BILL OF RIGHTS. Sec. II. — Freedom of speech and of the press — Of libels. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right ; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives, and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted. REVISED STATUTES OF OHIO. SMITH & BENEDICT, 1890. CIVIL CODE. PART 3, TITLE 1, DIVISION 2, CHAPTER 2. Sec. 4983. — Provides that actions for libel and slander, and cer- tain other actions, must be brought within one year. OHIO. 8 1 PART 3, TITLE 1, DIVISION 2, CHAPTER 7. Sec. 5093. — Lide^ and slander. In an action for libel or slander it shall be suflScient to state, generally, that the defamatory mat- ter was published or spoken of the plaintiff ; if the allegation be denied, the plaintiff must prove the facts, showing that the defam- atory matter was published or spoken of him ; and in such action it shall not be necessary to set out any obscene words, but it shall be sufficient to state its substance. Sec. 5094. — (As amended by Act passed April 27, 1893, General Sessions Laws, 1893, page 324.) In the actions mentioned in the preceding section the de- fendant may allege and prove the truth of the matter charged as defamatory, and the proof of the truth of the matter so charged as defamatory shall be a good and sufficient defense against any claim for damages ; and in every case the defendant may prove any mitigating circumstances to reduce the amount of damages. Sec. 5144 (as amended by Act passed April 5, '1893, General Session Laws, 1893, page 139). Except as otherwise provided, no action or proceeding pending in any court shall abate by the death of either or both the parties thereto, except an action for libel, slander, malicious prosecution, for a nuisance, or against a justice of the peace for misconduct in office, which shall abate by the death of either party. PART 3, TITLE 1, DIVISION 4, CHAPTER 5. Sec. 5349. — Provides that in actions for libel and slander, and certain others, if the damage is assessed under five dollars, the plaintiff shall not recover costs. CRIMES. PART 4, TITLE 1, CHAPTER 3. Sec. 6828. — Libel. Whoever writes, prints, or publishes any false or malicious libel of or concerning another, or verbally 'uses utters or publishes any false or malicious slander of or concerning any female of good repute, with intent to cause it to be believed that such female is unchaste, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned not more .than six months, or both; but nothing written or printed shall be deemed a libel unless there is a publication thereof. 82 OKLAHOMA. OKLAHOMA. STATUTES OF OKLAHOMA, 1893. ARTICLE 14, CHAPTER 35. Sec. 7,1.— Crimes and punishment. Every person guilty of any contempt of court of either of the following kinds is guilty of a misdemeanor ; * * * 7. The publication of a false or grossly inaccurate report of the proceedings of any court. But no per- son can be punished, as for a contempt, in publishing a true, full and fair report of any trial, argument, decision or proceeding had in the court. ARTICLE 25. Sec. I. — Libel and slander. A libel is a malicious defamation of a person made public by printing, writing, sign, picture, repre- sentation or effigy, tending to provoke him to wrath or subject him to public hatred, contempt or ridicule, or to deprive him of the benefit of public confidence and social intercourse, or injure him in his business, or any malicious defamation made public as aforesaid, designed to blacken or villify the memory of one who is dead, and tending to scandalize or provoke his surviving rela- tives or friends. Sec. 2. — Slander is a false and unprivileged publication, other than libel, which — Jfirsi — Charges any person with crime, or having been indicted, convicted or punished for crime ; Second — Imputes in him the present existence of an infectious, contagious or loathsome disease ; Third-^Ttnds directly to injure him in respect to his office, pro- fession, trade or business, either by imputing to him general dis- qualifications in those respects which his office or other occupation peculiarly requires, or by imputing something with reference to his office, profession, trade or business, that has a natural tendency to lessen its profits ; Fourth — Imputes to him impotence or want of chastity ; Fifth — Which by natural consequence causes actual damage. Sec. 3. — A privileged communication is one made — OKLAHOMA. 83 First — In any legislative or judicial proceeding, or in other pro- ceeding authorized by law ; Second — In the proper discharge of an official duty ; Third — By a fair or true report without malice of a judicial, legislative, official or other proceeding, or of anything said in the course thereof ; Fourth — In all cases of such communications made to a person ■other than a near relative or ward, or between persons related in business, malice shall be presumed from the communication unless the facts and circumstances and the testimony rebut the same. Sec. 4. — In all civil actions to recover damages for libel or slander it shall be sufficient to state generally what the defamatory matter was, and that it was published or spoken of the plaintiff, and to allege any general or special damage caused thereby, and the plaintiff to recover shall only be held to prove that the matter was published or spoken by the defendant concerning the plain- tiff. As a defense thereto the defendant may deny and offer evi- dence to disprove the charges made, or he may prove that the matter charged as defamatory was true, and in addition thereto that it was published or spoken under such circumstances as to render it a privileged communication. Sec. 5. — An injurious publication is presumed to have been malicious if no justifiable motive for making it is shown. Sec. 6. — If there be a verdict by a jury or finding by the court in favor of the plaintiff, the verdict and judgment shall in no case be less than one hundred dollars and costs, and may be for a greater sum if the proof justifies the same. And if there be a verdict in favor of the defendant, and the jury find that the action was malicious or without reasonable provocation, judgment shall be rendered against the plaintiff and in favor of the defendant for his costs, including an attorney's fee of one hundred dollars. Sec. 7. — Every person who makes, composes, dictates or pro- cures the same to be done ; or who wilfully publishes or circulates such libel ; or in any way knowingly or wilfully aids or assists in making, publishing, or circulating the same, shall be punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not more than one year or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or both, at the discre- tion of the judge ; and moreover, be civilly liable to the party in- jured ; provided, however, that if said libel is published in a news- paper or periodical having a general circulation, the person so offending shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than one year or more than than three years. Sec. 8. — In all criminal prosecutions or indictments for libel 84 OKLAHOMA. the truth thereof may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it be made to appear by the defendant that the matter charged as libel- ous is true, and in addition thereto was published with good motives, and for justifiable ends, or was a privileged communica- tion, the defendant shall be acquitted. Sec. 9. — In criminal prosecutions for libel, the indictment or information need not set forth any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the party libeled of the defamatory matter upon which the indictment is founded, but it is sufficient to state generally that the same was published concerning the party named, and the fact that it was published must be estab- lished on the trial. Sec 10. — To sustain the charge of publishing a libel it is not needful that the words complained of should have been read by any person ; it is enough and sufficient evidence that the accused knowingly parted with the immediate custody of the libel under circumstances which exposed it to be read by any person other than himself. Sec. II. — No editor or proprietor of any newspaper shall be liable to prosecution for a fair and true report of any judicial, legis- lative or other public official proceedings, except upon proof of malice in making such report, and in making such report or public official proceedings, malice shall not be implied from publication ; but libelous remarks connected with matter privileged under the last section, shall not be privileged by reason of their being con- nected therewith. Sec. 12. — Every person who threatens to publish a libel con- c'erning any other person, or concerning any relative, wife or child, or dead relative of such person, or member of his family, shall be liable civilly and criminally to have the same intent as though the publication had been made, but if the thought be not in writing, the threat and character of the libelous matter must be proven by at least two witnesses, or by one witness and corro- borating circumstances. Sec. 13. — Civil and criminal actions for libel and slander shall be conducted as other actions and under the direction and charge of the court. Sec. 14. — All acts and parts of acts and laws inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed. OKLAHOMA. 8$ CRIMINAL PROCEDURE. CHAPTER 68, ARTICLE 7. Sec. 2 2. — An indictment for libel need not set forth any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the party libeled of the defamatory matter on which the indictment is founded, but it is sufficient to state generally that the same was published concerning him, and the fact that it was so published must be established on trial. ARTICLE 10. Sec. 3. — On the trial of an indictment for libel, the jury shall determine the facts under the instructions of the court as in other cases. CIVIL ACTIONS. CHAPTER 60. Sec. 18. — Persons. Besides the personal rights mentioned or recognized under the law, every person has, subject to the qualifi- cations and restrictions provided by law, a right of protection from bodily restraint or harm, from personal insult, from defama- tion, and from injury to his personal relations. Sec. 19. — Defamation is effected ,by, first libel, or second, slander. Sec. 20. — Libel is a false and unprivileged publication by writ- ing, printing, picture, effigy, or other fixed representation to the eye which exposes any person to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or obloquy, or which causes him to be shunned or avoided, or which has a tendency to injure him in his occupation. Sec. 21. — Same as Chapter 25, Article 25, Section 2. Sec. 22 — A privileged communication is one made — First. — In the proper discharge of an official duty. Second. — In any legislative or judicial proceeding, or in any other official proceeding authorized by law. Third. — In a communication, without mailice, to a person interested therein, by one who is also interested, or by one who stands in such relation to the person interested as to afford a reasonable ground for supposing the motive of the communication innocent, or who is requested by the person interested to give the information. Fourth. — By a fair and true report, without malice, of a judi- cial, legislative or other public official proceeding, or of anything said in the course thereof. 86 OREGON. Fifth. — In the cases provided for in subdivisions 3 and 4 of this section, malice is not inferred from the communication or publication. CHAPTER 66, ARTICLE 3. Sec. 18. — Provides inter alia that actions for libel and slander must be brought within one year. CIVIL PROCEDURE. ARTICLE 8. Sec. 125. — In an action for libel or slander it shall be sufficient to state, generally, that the defamatory matter was published or spoken of the plaintiff ; and if the allegation be denied, the plain- tiff must prove, on the trial, the facts, showing that the defama- tory matter was published or spoken of him. Sec. 126. — In the actions mentioned in the last section, the de- fendant may allege the truth of the matter charged as defamatory,, and may prove the same, and any mitigating circumstances, to reduce the amount of damages, or he may prove either. OREGON. CONSTITUTION, 1859. BILL OF RIGHTS. ARTICLE 1. Sec. 8. — No law shall be passed restraining the free expression of opinion, or restricting the right to speak, write, or print freely on any subject whatever ; but every person shall be responsible for the abuse of this right. HILLS ANNOTATED LAWS OF OREGON, 1892. TITLE 3, CHAPTER 3. Sec. 1748. — Crimes and their punishment. If any person, either verbally or by any written or printed communication, shall OREGON. 87 threaten any injury to the personal property of another, or that of any person standing in the relation of parent or child, husband or wife, or sister or brother to such other, or shall in like manner threaten to accuse another of any crime, with intent thereby to extort any pecuniary advantage or property from such other, or with the intent to compel such other to do any act against his will, such person, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than six months nor more than two years, or by imprisonment in the county jail not less than three months nor more than one year. Sec. 1749. If any person shall wilfully, by any means other than words orally spoken, publish or cause to be published of or concerning another any false and scandalous matter, with intent to injure or defame such other person, upon conviction thereof (he) shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not less than three months nor more than one year, or by a fine not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars. Any allusion to any person or family with intent to injure, defame, or maliciously annoy such family, shall be deemed to come within the provisions of this section ; and it is hereby made the duty of the circuit judge of each judicial district of this state to read this section to the grand jury at each session of the court, and of the prosecuting' attorney of each judicial district to see that its pro- visions are enforced, whether the party injured desire to prosecute such offense or riot. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE. TITLE 1, CHAPTER 8. Sec. 1284. — An indictment for libel need not set forth any extrinsic facts, for the purpose of showing the application to the party libelled, of the defamatory matter on which the indictment is founded; but it is sufficient to state generally that the same was published concerning him ; and the fact that it was so published must be established on the trial. TITLE 2, CHAPTER 13. Sec. 2028. — In all criminal prosecutions for libel, the truth may be given in evidence, and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true and was published with good motives and justifiable ends, the defendant must be found not guilty. . Sec. 2029. — An injurious publication is presumed to have been 88 OREGON. malicious if no justifiable end or good motive is shown for mak- ing it. APPENDIX. PAGE 1005. In an indictment for libel. — Published or caused to be published in a newspaper called the , the following libel con- cerning C. D. (stating the matter published). CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. CHAPTER 1, TITLE 2. Sec. 8. — Provides that actions for libel and slander and certain others must be begun within two years. CHAPTER 1, TITLE 11. Sec. 90. — In an action for libel or slander, it shall not be neces- sary to state in the complaint any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the plaintiff of the defamatory matter out of which the cause of action arose ; but it shall be sufficient to state generally that the same was published or spoken concerning the plaintiff ; and if such allegation be controverted, the plaintiff shall be bound to establish on the trial it was so published or spoken. Sec. 91. — In the actions mentioned in the last section, the defendant may, in his answer, allege both the truth of the matter charged as defamatory and any mitigating circumstances, to reduce the amount of damages ; and whethenhe prove the justi- fication or not, he may give in evidence the mitigating circum- stances. CHAPTER 6, TITLE 5. Sec. S49.^Sec. g * * * tjut in an action for * * * libel, slander, * * * jf jjjg plaintiff recovers less than fifty dollars damages, he shall recover no more costs and disbursements than damages. * * PENNSYLVANIA. 89 PENNSYLVANIA. CONSTITUTION, 1874. ARTICLE I. Sec. 8. — The printing press shall be free to every person who may undertake to examine the proceedings of the legislature, or any branch of government, and no law shall ever be made to re- strain the right thereof. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man ; and every ■citizen may freely speak, write and print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. No conviction shall be had in any prosecution for the publication of papers relating to the official conduct of officers, or men in public capacity, or to any other matter proper for public investigation or information, where the fact that such publication was not maliciously or negligently made, shall be established to the satisfaction of the jury ; and in all indictments for libels, the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the court as in other cases. BRIGHTLY'S PURDON'S DIGEST OF PENN- SYLVANIA LAWS, 1894. CRIMES. VOLUME 1, PAGE 516. Sec. 51. — Libels. If any person shall write, print, publish or exhibit any malicious or defamatory libel, tending to either blacken the memory of one who is dead or the reputation of one who is alive, and thereby exposing him to public hatred, contempt or ridi- cule, such person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on con- viction, be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or undergo an imprisonment not exceeding twelve months, or both, or either, at the discretion of the court. That any person who wilfully states, delivers or transmits, by any means whatever, to the manager, editor, publisher or reporter of any newspaper, magazine, publication, periodical or serial, for go PENNSYLVANIA. publication therein, any libelous statement concerning any person or corporation, and thereby secures the actual publication of the same, is hereby declared guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon con- viction, shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, and undergo imprisonment for a period not ex- ceeding two years, or either, or both, at the disretion of the court. Page 897. — Insolvents. Provides that if the defendant in an ac- tion for libelous slander and certain other actions, is imprisoned when the damages found by. the jury shall exceed the sum of one hundred dollars, he shall not be entitled to be discharged from such imprisonment or arrest until he shall have been in actual confinement during the term of at least sixty days. VOLUME ?, PAGE 1921. Par. 1.— Slander. Actions upon the case for words shall be commenced and sued within one year next after the words spoken,, and not after. Par. 2. — In all actions upon the case for slanderous words, to be sued or prosecuted, by any person or persons, in any court with- in this province, if the jury, upon the trial of the issue in such ac- tion, or the jury that shall inquire of the damages, do find or assess the damages under forty shillings, then the plaintiff or plaintiffs in such action shall have and recover only so much costs as the dam- ages so given or assessed do amount unto, without any further in- crease of the same. VOLUME 1, LIMITATIONS OF ACTIONS, PAGE 1313. 3. — Personal actions. Par. 19 provides that the said actions upon the case for words shall be brought within one year after the words spoken, and not after. (Note. This Act was passed in 17 13, and is the one referred to in the following section.) VOLUME 1, LIMITATION OF ACTIONS, PAGE 1315. Par. 20. — The limitation provided in the last paragraph of the first section of the act entitled "An Act for the limitation of ac- tions," passed the 27th of March, 1713, to which this section is supplementary, in relation to words spoken, shall be held to extend to all cases of slander or libel, whether spoken, written or printed. RHODE ISLAND. 9 1 RHODE ISLAND. CONSTITUTION, 1842. BILL OF RIGHTS. Sec. 20. — The liberty of the press being essential to the secur- ity of freedom in the state, any person may publish his sentiments on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty ; and in all trials for libel, both civil and criminal, the truth, unless published from malicious motives, shall be sufficient defense to the person charged. PUBLIC STATUTES OF RHODE ISLAND, 1882. TITLE 27, CHAPTER 212. Sec. 6. — In every action for libel or slander the defendant may, with his plea of not guilty, file a written notice that he will prove the truth of the publication charged as libelous or of the words charged as slanderous, and in such case may, upon the trial, give the truth in evidence, which eviflence shall be deemed a sufficient justification without any special plea of justification. TITLE 26, CHAPTER 205. Section i. — Actions of the case for words spoken shall be com- menced and sued within one year next after the words spoken and not after. Sec. 3. — * * * All actions of the case except for words, spoken * * * shall be commenced and sued within six years and not after. TITLE 27, CHAPTER 217. Sec. 4. — In all actions of the case for slanderous words, that shall be commenced in any court, * * * jf ^he court or jury who shall assess the damages thereon shall assess the same at a less sum than seven dollars, the plaintiff in such case shall recover no more costs than damages. 92 SOUTH CAROLINA. SOUTH CAROLINA. CONSTITUTION, 1868. ARTICLE I. Sec. 7. — All persons may freely speak, write and publish their sentiments on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that right ; and no law shall be enacted to restrain or abridge the lib- erty of speech or of the press. Sec. 8. — The prosecutions for the publication of papers investi- gating the official conduct of officers or men in public capacity, or when the matter published is proper for public information, the truth thereof may be given in evidence ; and in all indict- ments for libel the jury shall be the judges of the law and the facts. GENERAL STATUTES OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1882. CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. PART 2, TITLE 2, CHAPTER 3. Sec. 114. — Provides that actions for libel, slander and certain others should be' commenced within two years. PART 2, TITLE 6, CHAPTER 0. Sec. 185. — In an action for libel or slander it shall not be necessary to state in the complaint any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the plaintiff of the defam- atory matter out of which the cause of action arose ; but it shall be sufficient to state generally that the same was published or spoken concerning the plaintiff ; and if such allegation be contro- verted the plaintiff shall be bound to establish on trial that it was so published or spoken. Sec. 166. — In the actions mentioned in the last section the defendant may in his answer allege both the truth of the matter charged as defamatory and any mitigating circumstances to SOUTH DAKOTA. 93 reduce the amount of damages ; and, whether he proves the justi- fication or not, he may give in evidence the mitigating circum- stances. ' PART 2, TITLE 10. Sec. 323. — Provides that in actions for libel and slander and cer- tain others, where the amount recovered is less than one hundred dollars, the total amount of costs and disbursements shall not exceed the amount so recovered in the action. SOUTH DAKOTA. CONSTITUTION, 1889. ARTICLE VL Sec. 5. — Every person may freely speak, write and publish on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right. In all trials for libel, both civil and criminal, the truth, when published with good motives and for justifiable ends, shall be a sufficient defense. The j'ury shall have the right to determine the facts and the law under the direction of the court. COMPILED LAWS OF DAKOTA, 1887. PENAL CODE. LIBEL. CHAPTER 35. Sec. 6511. — Any malicious injury to good name, other than by words orally spoken, is libel. Sec. 6512. — Every person who wilfully, and with a malicious intent to injure another, publishes any libel, is guilty of a mis- demeanor. Sec. 6513 — An injurious publication is presumed to have been malicious, if no justifiable motive for making is shown. Sec. 6514. — In all criminal prosecutions or indictments for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is 94 SOUTH DAKOTA. true and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted. Sec. 6515. — To sustain a charge of publishing a libel it is not needful that the words complained of should have been read by any person. It is enough that the accused knowingly parted with the immediate custody of the libel under circumstances which ex- posed it to be read by any other person than himself. Sec. 6516. — Each author, editor, and proprietor of any book, newspaper or serial publication, and each member of any partner- ship or incorporated association by which any book, newspaper or serial publication is issued, is chargeable with the publication of any words contained in any part of said book or number of such newspaper or serial. Sec. 6517. — No reporter, editor or proprietor of any newspaper is liable to any prosecution for a fair and true report of any judi- cial, legislative or other public official proceedings, or of any state- ment, speech, argument or debate in the course of the same, ex- cept upon proof of malice in making such report, which shall in no case be implied from the mere fact of publication. Sec. 6518. — Libelous remarks or comments connected with mat- ter privileged by the last section, receive no privilege by reason of their being so connected. Sec. 6519. — A communication made to a person interested in the communication, by one who was also interested, or who stood in such relation to the former as to afford a reasonable ground for supposing his motive innocent, is not presumed to be malicious, and is called a privileged communication. Sec. 6520. — Every person who threatens another to publish a libel concerning him, or any parent, or husband, wife or child of such person, or member of his family,- is guilty of a misdemeanor. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE. TITLE 6, CHAPTER 2. Sec. 7254. — An indictment for libel need not set forth any ex- trinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the party libelled of the defamatory matter on which the indictment is founded, but it is sufficient to state generally that the same was published concerning him, and the fact that it was so published must be established on trial. TITLE 8, CHAPTER 2. Sec. 7373. — On the trial of an indictment for libel, the jury have the right to determine the law and the fact. SOUTH DAKOTA. 95 TITLE 8, CHAPTER 4. Sec. 7420. — The jury may either render a general verdict, or, when they are in doubt as to the legal effect of the facts proved, they may, except upon an indictment for libel, find a special verdict. CIVIL CODE. DIVISION 1, PART 2. Sec. 2526. — Personal rights. Besides the personal rights men- tioned or recognized in the Political Code, every person has, sub- ject to the qualifications and restrictions provided by law, the right of protection from bodily restraint or harm, from personal insult, from defamation, and from injury to his personal relations. Sec. 2527. — Defamation is effected by : 1. Libel, or, 2. Slander. Sec. 2528. — Libel is a false and unprivileged publication by writing, printing, picture, effigy, or other fixed representation to the eye, which exposes any person to hatred, contempt, ridicule or obloquy, or which causes him to be shunned or avoided, or which has a tendency to injure him in his occupation. Sec. 2529. — Slander is a false and unprivileged publication, other than libel, which : i. Charges any person with crime, or with having been in- dicted, convicted or punished for crime. 2. Imputes in him the presence of an infectious, contagious or loathsome disease. 3. Tends directly to injure him in respect to his office, profes- sion, trade or business, either by imputing to him general dis- qualification in these respects which the office or other occupation peculiarly requires, or by imputing something with reference to his office, profession, trade or business that has a natural tendency to lessen its profits. 4. Imputes to him impotence or want of chastity, pr 5. Which, by natural consequence, causes actual damage. Sec. 2530. — A privileged communication is one made — 1. In the proper discharge of an official duty. 2. In any legislative or judicial proceeding, or in any other official proceeding authorized by law. 3. In a communication without malice, to a person interested therein by one who is also interested, or by one who stands in such relation to the person interested as to afford a reasonable ground for supposing the motive for the communication innocent, 96 SOUTH DAKOTA. or who is requested by the person interested to give the infor- mation. 4. By a fair and true report, without malice, of a judicial, legislative or other ofificial proceeding or of anything said in the course thereof. 5. In the cases provided for in Subdivisions 3 and 4 of this section, malice is not inferred from the communication or publica- tion. CIVIL PROCEDURE. PART 2, CHAPTER 6. ARTICLE III. Sec. 4852. — Provides that actions for slander and libel must be brought within two years. CHAPTER 9, ARTICLE 5. Sec. 4929. — In an action for libel or slander, it shall not be necessary to state in the complaint any extrinsic facts, for the pur- pose of showing the application to the plaintiff of the defamatory matter out of which the cause of action arose ; but it shall be sufficient to state generally that the same was published or spoken concerning the plaintiff ; and if such" allegation be controverted, the plaintiff shall be bound to establish, on trial, that it was so published or spoken. Sec. 4930. — In the actions mentioned in the last section, the defendant may, in his answer, allege both the truth of the matter charged as defamatory and any mitigating circumstances, to re- duce the amount of damages ; and whether he prove the justi- fication or not, he may give, in evidence, the mitigating circum- stances. CHAPTER 15. Sec. 5191. — Costs shall be allowed, of course, to the plaintiff upon a recovery in the following cases : ******* 4. * * * But in an action for * * * libel, slander * * * if the plaintiff recovers less than fifty dollars damages, he shall jrecover no more costs and disbursements than dam- ages. * * * TENNESSEE. 97 TENNESSEE. CONSTITUTION, 1870. ARTICLE I. Sec. 19.— That the printing presses shall be free to every person to examine the proceedings of the legislature, or of any branch or office of the government; and no law shall ever be made to restrain the right thereof. A free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of men, and every citizen may freely speak, write and print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. But in prosecu- tions for the publication of papers investigating the official con- duct of officers or men in public capacity, the truth thereof may be given in evidence; and in all indictments for libel, the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the court, as in other criminal cases. CODE OF TENNESSEE MILLIKEN & VERTRESS, 1884. CRIMINAL CODE. Sec. 5550. — Libel. A libel is the malicious defamation of a person, made public by any printing, writing, sign, picture, repre- sentation or effigy, intending to provoke him to wrath, or expose him to public hatred, contempt or ridicule, or to deprive him of the benefits of public confidence and social intercourse. Sec. 5551. — Or any malicious defamation made public as afore- said, designed to blacken and vilHfy the memory of one who is dead, and tending to scandalize or provoke his surviving relatives or friends. Sec. 5552. — No printing, writing, or other thing is a libel with- out publication; but the delivering, selling, reading or otherwise communicating a libel, or causing the sarrie to be delivered, sold, read, or otherwise .communicated to one or more persons, or to the party libelled, is a publication thereof. 98 TENNESSEE. Sec. 5553. — The truth of the matter charged in the indictment may be given in evidence by the person charged, under the plea of not guilty, with every advantage that could be had under a plea of justification in actions for libel. Sec. SS54. — In, all indictments for prosecutions for libel, the jury have a right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the court, as in other criminal cases. Sec. 5960. — An indictment for libel need not set forth any extrinsic facts, for the purpose of showing the application to the party libelled, of the defamatory matter upon which the indict- ment is founded, but it is sufficient to state generally that the same was published concerning him, and the fact that it was so published shall be established on the trial. CIVIL ACTIONS. Sec. 3468. — Actions for slanderous words spoken, shall be com- menced within six months after the words are uttered. Sec. 3469. — Provides that actions for libel, and certain others, are to be brought within one year after cause of action accrued. Sec. 3607. — It is sufficient to state in the declaration in slander or libel, that the defendant falsely and maliciously charged the plaintiff with perjury, larceny or other crime, as the case may be, in substance as follows, setting it out. Sec. 3922. — In civil actions founded upon * * * slanderous words * * * the plaintiff recovers no more costs than damages, unless the recovery exceed five dollars. Secs. 4136-8 inclusive. — Slander and libel. Sec. 4136. — Any words written, spoken, or printed of a person wrongfully and maliciously imputing to such person the commission of adultery or fornication, are actionable, without special damage. Sec, 4137. — If any person challenged to fight a duel, declined to accept the challege, and the author or bearer charge him with being a coward, poltroon, or use other words insinuating such charges, whether spoken to a third person or published in a news- paper, or printed notice, such words are slanderous, on which an action may be supported against the speaker or publisher. Sec. 4138. — Where the verdict in slander is under five dollars, the plaintiff shall recover no more costs than damages. TEXAS. 99 TEXAS. CONSTITUTION, 1J866. ARTICLE I. Sec. 5. — Every citizen shall be at liberty to speak, write, or publish his opinions on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that privilege ; and no law shall ever be passed curtail- ing the liberty of speech or of the press. Sec. 6. — In prosecutions for the publication of papers investi- gating the official conduct of officers or men, in a public capacity, or when the matter published is proper for public information, the truth thereof may be given in evidence ; and in all indictments for libels, the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the court, as in other cases. WILLSON'S CRIMINAL TEXAS STATUTES, 1888. PENAL CODE. PART 1, TITLE 16, CHAPTER 1. OF LIBEL. ARTICLE 616. ^^ Libel" defined. He is guilty of "libel" who, with intent to injure, makes, writes, prints, publishes, sells or circulates any malicious statement affecting the reputation of another in respect to any matter or thing pointed out in this chapter. ARTICLE 617. Punishment. If any person be guilty of libel he shall be punished by fine not less than one hundred nor more than two thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail not ex- ceeding two years ; and the court may enter up judgment and issue an order thereupon directed to the sheriff to seize and destroy all the publications, prints, paintings or engravings con- stituting a libel as charged in the indictment or information. lOO TEXAS. ARTICLE 618. Publishing writing purporting to be done by another. If any person with intent to injure the reputation of another, shall, with- out lawful authority, make, publish or circulate a writing purport- ing to be the act of some other person, and which comes within the definition of libel, as given in this chapter, he shall be pun- ished in the same manner as if the act purported to be his own ; and the rules with respect to libel apply also to the making and circulation of such false writing. ARTICLE 619. ^^ Maker " explained. He is the maker of a libel who originally contrived and either executed it himself by writing, printing, engraving or painting, or dictated, or caused it to be done by others. ARTICLE 620. "■Publisher." He is the publisher of a libel who, either of his own will or by the persuasion or dictation of another, executes the same in any of the modes pointed out as constituting a libel ; but if any one by force or threats is compelled to execute such libel, he is guilty of no offense. ARTICLE 631. " Circulating." He is guilty of circulating a libel who, know- ing its contents, either sells, distributes or gives, or who with malicious design reads or exhibits it to others. ARTICLE 633. The ideas the statement must convey. — The written, printed or published statement, to come within the definition of libel, must convey the idea either — i: That the person to whom it refers has been guilty of some penal offense ; or, 2. That he has been guilty of some act or omission which, though not a penal offense, is disgraceful to him as a member of society, and the natural consequence of which is to bring him into contempt among honorable persons ; or, 3. That he has some moral vice or physical or mental defect or disease which renders him unfit for intercourse with respectable society, and such as should cause him to be generally avoided \ or, 4. That he is notoriously of bad or infamous character ; or, TEXAS. lOI 5. That any person in office, or a candidate therefor, is dis- honest, and therefore unworthy of such office, or that while in office he has been guilty of some malfeasance rendering him un- worthy of the place. ARTICLE 623. Mode of publication. — A libel may be either written, printed, engraved, etched or painted, but no verbal defamation comes within the meaning thereof ; and whenever a defendant is accused of libel, by means of a painting, engraving or caricature, it must clearly appear therefrom that the person said to be defamed was, in fact, intended to be represented by such painting, engraving or caricature. ARTICLE 624. A manuscript must be circulated. In order to render any manu- script a libel it must be circulated, or posted up in some public place. ARTICLE 625. Editor, etc., prima facie guilty. If the libel be in printed form, and issues or is sold in any office or shop where a public newspaper is conducted, or where books or other printed works are sold or printed, the editor, publisher and proprietor of such newspaper, or any one of them, or the owner of such shop, is to be deemed guilty of making or circulating such libel until the contrary is made on the trial to appear. ARTICLE 626. What may avoid responsibility, how. The editor, publisher or proprietor of a public newspaper may avoid the responsibility of making or publishing a libel by giving the true author of the same, provided such author be a resident of this state and a person of good character, except in cases where it is shown that such editor, publisher or proprietor caused a libel to be published with mali- cious design. ARTICLE 627. Mechanical executor not guilty, unless. No person shall be convicted of libel merely on evidence that he has made a manuscript copy of a libel or has performed the manual labor of printing it, unless it be shown positively that such person was actuated by a malicious design against the person defamed. But the person for whose account or by whose order it was printed 102 TffXAS. shall be presumed to have known the intent of the publication^ and shall be liable for the offense. ARTICLE 628. Actual injury not necessary. It is sufficient to constitute the 'offense of libel if the natural consequence of the publication of the same is to injure the person defamed, although no actual injury to his reputation has been sustained. ARTICLE 629. Intent to injure presumed. The intent to injure is to be pre- sumed if such would be the natural consequence of the libel, although no actual proof be made that the defendant had such design ; and in all trials of libel the jury are to judge from the facts proved relative to the malicious design of the defendant as to what penalty ought to be imposed under the restrictions herein prescribed. ARTICLE 630. True statements concerning candidate not libel. It is no offense to make true statements of fact, or express opinions as to the integrity or other qualifications of a candidate for any office or public place or appointment. ARTICLE 631. Nor concerning qualifications of professional men. It is no- offense to publish true statements of fact as to the qualifications- of any person for any occupation, profession or trade. ARTICLE 632. JVo criticism of any book, work of art, etc. It is no offense to publish any criticism or examination of any work of literature, science or art, or any opinion as to the qualifications or merits of the author of such work. ARTICLE 633. The offense relates to persons only. To constitute libel there must be some injury intended to the reputation of persons, and no publication as to the government or any of the branches thereof as such is an offense under the name of seditious writings or any other name. ARTICLE 634. Respecting religious systems, etc. It is no libel to make publica- tion respecting the merits or doctrines of any particular religion. TEXAS. 103 system of morals or politics, or of any particular form of government. ARTICLE 635. Corporation cannot be libelled. It is no libel to make any publi- cation respecting a body politic or corporate as such. ARTICLE 636. Nor legislative or judicial proceedings, unless, etc. It is no libel to publish any statement respecting any legislative or judicial proceedings, whether the statement be in fact true or not, unless in such statemement a charge of corruption is made against some person acting in a legislative or judicial capacity. ARTICLE 637. Recorder of minutes, etc., not liable. Where any person, by virtue of his office, is required to record the proceedings of any depart- ment of the government or of any body corporate or politic, or of any association organized for purposes of business, or as a religious, moral, benevolent, literary or scientific institution, he cannot be charged with libel for any entry upon the minutes or record of such department, body or association, made in the course of his official duties. ARTICLE 638. But all members of the association who assent, are. If any false statement be entered upon the minutes or record of proceedings of any corporate body or association included within the meaning of the preceding article, which would be libel if written, printed, published or circulated by an individual, according to the previous articles of this chapter, the persons being members of such body or association, who assent to, and direct such libelous .statements to be made, are guilty of libel under the same rules as if the false statement had been written, published or circulated in any other manner than as a part of the record or proceedings of such body or association, subject, however, to the restrictions contained in the succeeding article. ARTICLE 639. Intent to injure not presumed, unless, etc. The libelous statement referred to in the preceding article is not to be presumed to have been made with intent to injure, from the mere fact that such would be the natural result thereof, unless it appear from other facts that the statement was in fact made with that intention. I04 TEXAS. ARTICLE 640. ^'■Malicious" signifies what. The word "malicious " is used to signify an act done with evil or mischievous design, and it is not necessary to prove any special facts showing ill feeling on the part of the person who is concerned in making, printing, publish- ing, or circulating a libelous statement against a person injured thereby. ARTICLE 641, Statement in legislative or judicial proceedings not included. No statement made in the course of a legislative or judicial proceed- ing, whether true or false, although made with intent to injure and from malicious purposes, comes within the definition of libel. ARTICLE 642. Truth of the statement may be shown, when. In the following cases the truth of any statement charged as a libel may be shown in justification of a defendant : 1. Where the publication purports to be an investigation of the official conduct of officers or men in a public capacity. 2. Where it is stated in the libel that a person has been guilty of some penal offense, and the time, place and nature of the offense is specified in the publication. 3. Where it is stated in the libel that a person is a notoriously bad or infamous character. 4. Where the publication charged any person in office, or can- didate therefor, with a want of honesty, or of having been guilty of some malfeasance in office, rendering him unworthy of the place. In other cases, the truth of the facts stated in the libel cannot be inquired into. ARTICLE 643. Province of jury. The jury in every case of libel are not only the judges of the facts and of the law, under the direction of the court, in accordance with the constitution, but they are judges of the intent with which a libel may have been published or circu- lated, subject to the rules prescribed in this chapter, and in rendering their verdict they are to be governed by a consideration of the nature of the charge contained in the libel, the general reputation of the person said to be defamed and the degree of malice exhibited by the defendant in the commission of "the offense. TEXAS. 105 ARTICLE 644. This title relates only to penal action. This title regulates the law with regard to libel when prosecuted as a penal offense, and is not intended to have any operation upon the subject so far as re- lates to civil remedies for the recovery of damages. OF SLANDER. TITLE 16, CHAPTER 2. ARTICLE 645. Definition and punishment. If any person shall, orally or other- Tvise, falsely and maliciously, or falsely and wantonly, impute to any female in this state, married or unmarried, a want of chas- tity, he shall be deemed guilty of slander, and, upon conviction, shall be fined not less than one . hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, and the jury may, in addition thereto, find a verdict for the imprisonment of defendant in the county jail not exceeding one year. ARTICLE 646. Procedure in prosecution for. In any prosecution under this chapter, it shall not be necessary for the state to show that such imputation was false, but the defendant may, in justification, show the truth of the imputation; and the general reputation for chastity of a female alleged to have been slandered may be inquired into. CHAPTER 3. Of false accusation and threats of prosecution. ARTICLE 647. Combination to falsely accuse another. If any two or more per- sons shall combine falsely to accuse another of an offense, and shall, in pursuance of such combination, make such accusation before a court or magistrate, or in any newspaper or other public print, or by the circulation of handbills, or in any other public manner, by writing, he shall be punished by fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding two years. ARTICLE 648. To extort money. If the purpose of such combination be to extort money or any pecuniary advantage, the punishment shall Io6 TEXAS. be fine not to exceed two thousand dollars and imprisonment in the penitentiary not to exceed three years. ARTICLE 649. Threats of prosecution to extort money. If any person, with intent to extort any money, or any pecuniary advantage, shall threaten to accuse another of a felony, before any court, or to publish any other statement respecting him which would come within the meaning of a libel, he shall be punished in the manner set forth in Article 647. ARTICLE €50. Publishing another as a coward. If any person shall, in any newspaper or handbill, or by notice posted up in any place, pub- lish another as a coward, or use toward him any other opprobrious- language, he shall be fined in an amount not exceeding two hun- dred dollars; and if such publication or posting be in consequence of a refusal to fight a duel, the punishment shall be fine not less- than five hundred nor more than one thousand dollars. PART II.— CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCE- DURE. TITLE 1, CHAPTER L ARTICLE U. Liberty of speech and of the press. Every person shall be at liberty to speak, write or publish his opinion on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that privilege ; and no law shall ever be passed curtailing the liberty of speech or of the press. In prosecutions for the publication of papers investigating the con- duct of officers or men in public capacity, or when the matter published is proper for public information, the truth thereof may be given in evidence. And in all indictments for libels the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the court, as in other cases. TITLE 3, CHAPTER 7. Of the suppression of offenses affecting reputation. ARTICLE 129. On conviction for libel, court may order copies destroyed. On conviction for making, writing, printing, publishing, selling or TEXAS. 107 circulating a libel, the court may, if it be shown that there are in the hands of the defendant, or other person, copies of such libel intended for publication, sale or distribution, order all such copies to be seized by the sheriff, or other proper officer, and destroyed. TITLE 3, CHAPTER 3. ARTICLE 103. May require bond of person charged with libel. ■. If any person shall make oath, and shall convince the magistrate that he has good reason to believe that another is about to publish, sell or circulate, or is continuing to sell, publish or circulate any libel .against him, or any such publication as ismade an offense by the penal law of the state, the person accused of such intended pub- lication may be required to enter into bond with security not to sell, publish or circulate such libelous publication, and the same proceedings be had as in the cases before enumerated in this chapter. ARTICLE 105. Accused shall fay costs, when. In cases where accused parties are found subject to the charge, and required to give bond, the costs of the proceedings shall be adjudged against them. ARTICLE 107. Suit on bond. If the condition of a bond, such as is provided for in this chapter, be forfeited, it shall be sued upon in the name of the " State of Texas," in a court having jurisdiction of the amount thereof, and in the county where such bond is taken. The suit shall be instituted and prosecuted by the district or county attorney, and the full amount of such bond may be recovered against the principal and sureties. ARTICLE 108. Same subject. Suits upon such bonds shall' be commenced within two years from the breach of the same, and not thereafter, and shall be governed by the rules applicable to civil actions, except that the sureties may be sued, without joining the principal. It shall only be necessary in order to entitle the state to recover, to prove that the defendant did commit the offense which he bound himself not to commit, or failed to keep the peace accord- ing to his undertaking! I08 TEXAS. SAYLE'S TEXAS CIVIL STATUTES, 1888. TITLE 37, CHAPTER 3. ARTICLE 1117. Original jurisdiction of district court. The district court shall have original jurisdiction in civil cases * * * 3. Of all suits to recover damages for slander or defamation of character. TITLE 29, CHAPTER 4. ARTICLE 1198. Venue of suits. No person who is an inhabitant of this state shall be sued out of the county in which he has his domicile, ex- cept in the following cases, to wit : * * * § 8. In cases of crime, offense or trespass. Where the foundation of the suit is some crime, or offense, or trespass, for which a civil action in damages may lie, in which case the suit may be brought in the county where such crime, or offense, or trespass is committed, or in the county where the defendant has a domicile. Note. — A suit for libel may be brought in any county in which the libelous statement has been circulated. Belo vs. Wren, 63 Tex., 686. TITLE 39, CHAPTER 20. Sec. 1429. — Provides that in actions for slander and defama- tion of character if the verdict- or judgment is for the plaintiff and for a less sum than twenty dollars, the plaintiff shall not recover his costs, but each party shall be taxed with the costs incurred by him in such suit. TITLE 32, CHAPTER 3. Art. 1544 provides that justice's courts have no jurisdiction of, among others, suits to recover damages for slander or defamation of character. TITLE 62, CHAPTER 2. Art. 3202 provides that actions for injuries done to the char- acter or reputation of another by libel: or slander shall be brought within one year. UTAH. 109 UTAH. COMPILED LAWS OF UTAH, 1888. PENAL CODE. VOLUME II., CHAPTER 10. LIBEL. Sec. 4489. — A libel is a malicious defamation, expressed either by printing or by signs or pictures, or the like, tending to blacken the memory of one who is dead, or to impeach the honesty, integ- rity, virtue or reputation, or publish the natural defects of one who is alive, and thereby to expose him to public hatred, con- tempt, or ridicule. Sec. 4490. — Every person who wilfully, and with a malicious intent to injure another, publishes or procures to be published any libel, is punishable by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year. Sec. 4491. — An injurious publication is presumed to have been malicious if no justifiable motive for making it is shown. Sec. 4492. — In all criminal prosecutions for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it appears to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted. The jury have the right to determine the law and the fact. Sec. 4493. — -To sustain a charge of publishing a libel, it is enough that the accused knowingly parted with the immediate custody of the libel under circumstances which exposed it to be read or seen by any other person than himself. Sec. 4494. — Each author, editor and proprietor of any news. paper, or serial publication, is chargeable with the publication of any words contained in any part of such book or number of such newspaper or serial. Sec. 4495. — No reporter, editor or proprietor of any news- paper is liable to any prosecution for a fair and true report of any judicial, legislative, or other public official proceedings, or of any I lO UTAH. Statement, speech, argument or debate in the course of the same, except upon proof of malice in making such report, which shall not be implied in the mere fact of publication. Sec. 4496 — Libelous remarks or comments connected with matters privileged by the last section receive no privilege by reason of their being so connected. Sec. 4497. — A communication made to a person interested in the communication by one who is also interested, or who stood in such relation to the former as to afford a reasonable ground for supposing his motive innocent, is not presumed to be malicious, and is a privileged communication. Sec. 4498. — Every person who threatens another to publish a libel concerning him, or any parent, husband, wife or child of such person, or member of his family ; and every person who offers to prevent the publication of any libel upon another person, with intent to extort any money or other valuable consideration from any person, is guilty of a misdemeanor. CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. VOLUME IL, CHAPTER 7. Sec. 3246. — In an action for libel or slander it is not necessary to state in the complaint any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the plaintiff of the defamatory matter out of which the action arose ; but it is sufficient to state, gener- ally, that the same was published or spoken concerning the plain- tiff ; and if such allegation be controverted, the plaintiff must establish, on the trial, that it was so published or spoken. Sec. 3247. — In the actions mentioned in the last section the defendant may, in his answer, allege both the truth of the matter charged as defamatory and any mitigating circumstances, to re- duce the amount of damages, and, whether he prove the justi- fication or not, he may give in evidence the mitigating circum- stances. CHAPTER 3. Sec. 3146. — Provides that actions for libel and slander shall be bfought within one year. VERMONT. 1 1 1 VERMONT. CONSTITUTION, 1793. CHAPTER 1, ARTICLE 13. The people have a right to freedom of speech, and of writing and publishing their sentiments, concerning the transactions of government, and therefore the freedom of the press ought not to be restrained. REVISED LAWS OF VERMONT, 1880. TITLE 11, CHAPTER 87. Sec. 1646. — When a person is prosecuted by indictment or information for uttering and publishing a libel, or for defaming the civil authority of the state, he may plead the general issue, and may give in evidence to the jury the truth of the words contained in such supposed libel, as set forth in such indictment or informa- tion ; and if he proves their truth to the satisfaction of the jury, they shall in their verdict find the respondent not guilty. TITLE 11, CHAPTER 56. Sec. 966. — Actions for slanderous words, and for libels, shall be commenced within two years after the cause of action accrues, and not after. TITLE 11, CHAPTER 46. Sec. 821. — Provides that justices of the peace shall have juris- diction over certain cases from which actions for slanderous words are excepted. TITLE 11, CHAPTER 79. Sec. 1437. — Provides that in actions before the county court, or in the case for slanderous words and certain ot'her actions, unless the plaintiff recovers more than seven dollars damages, he shall recover no more costs than damages. 112 VIRGINIA. VIRGINIA. CONSTITUTION, 1869. ARTICLE I. Sec. 14. — That the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments, and any citizen may speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. CODE OF VIRGINIA, 1887. TITLE 41, CHAPTER 137. Sec. 2897. — For insulting words. All words which, from their usual construction and common acceptation, are construed as insults and tend to violence and breach of the peace, shall be actionable. No demurrer shall preclude a jury from passing thereon. TITLE 48, CHAPTER 165. Sec. 3375. — Evidence in mitigation of damages. In any action for defamation, the defendant may justify by alleging and proving that the words spoken or written were true, and (after notice in writing of his intention to do so, given to the plaintiff at the time of, or for pleading to such action), may give in evidence, in miti- gation of damages, that he made or offered an apology to the plaintiff for such defamation before the commencement of the action, or as soon afterwards as he had an opportunity of doing so, in case the action shall have been commenced before there was an opportunity of making or offering such apology. TITLE 42, CHAPTER 139. Sec. 2927. — Of actions not before specified.. Every personal action, for which no limitation is otherwise prescribed, shall be brought within five years next after the right to bring the same shall have accrued, if it be for a matter of such nature that in case a party die it can be brought by or against his represent- atives ; and if it be for a matter not of such nature, shall be brought within one year next after the right to bring the same shall have accrued. WASHINGTON. II3 WASHINGTON. CONSTITUTION, 1889. ARTICLE!, SECTION 5. Every person may freely speak, write and publish on all sub- jects, being responsible for the abuse of that right. HILL'S STATUTES AND CODES OF WASH- INGTON, 1891. PENAL CODE. CHAPTER 1. Sec. 17. — Definition and penalty of libel. A libel is the defama- tion of a person made public by any words, printing, writing, sign, picture, representation or effigy, tending to provoke him to wrath, or to expose him to public hatred, contempt or ridicule, or ,to de- prive him of the benefits of public confidence and social inter- course ; or any defamation, made public as aforesaid, designed to blacken and villify the memory of one who is dead, and tending to scandalize and provoke his surviving relatives and friends. Every person who makes, composes or dictates a libel, or procures the same to be done, or who publishes or wilfully circulates such libel, or in any way knowingly and wilfully aids or assists in making, publishing, or circulating the same, shall be punished by imprison- ment in the county jail not more than one year, or by fine not ex- ceeding one thousand dollars, or by both such fine and imprison- ment. Sec. 18. — Publication of libel. The delivering, selling, reading, or otherwise communicating a libel, or causing the same to be de- livered, sold, read, or otherwise communicated to one or more per- sons, or to the party libelled, shall be deemed a publication thereof. CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. TITLE 5, CHAPTER 1. Sec. 116. — Provides thait, among others, actions for slander and libel are to be brought within two years. 8 1 14 WASHINGTOTM. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE. TITLE 13, CHAPTER 8. Sec. 1249. — Charge of libel, when sufficient. An indictment or information for libel need not set forth any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the party libelled, of the defamatory matter on which the indictment or information was founded; but it is sufficient to state generally that the same was published concerning him; and the fact that it was so published must be established on the trial. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE. • TITLE 13, CHAPTER 15. Sec. 1378. — Truth of matter charged as libel may be a defense. In prosecutions for libel, the truth thereof may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it appear to them that the matter charged as libelous was a crime punishable by fine or imprison- ment, and was true, and that the same was published with good motives and justifiable ends, the defendant shall be acquitted. CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. TITLE 5, CHAPTER 7. Sec. 211. — Requisites of pleading in action for libel or slander. In an action for libel or slander, it shall not be necessary to state in the complaint any extrinsic facts for the purpose of show- ing the application to the plaintiff of the defamatory matter out of which the cause arose, but it shall be sufficient to state gener- ally that the same was published or spoken concerning the plaintiff; and if such allegation be controverted, the plaintiff shall be bound to establish on trial that it was so published or spoken. Sec. 212 — Justification and mitigation in such actions. In an action mentioned in the last section, the defendant may, in his answer, allege both the truth of the matter charged as defamatory, and any mitigating circumstances to reduce the amount of dam- ages; and whether he proves the justification or not, he may give in evidence the mitigating circumstances. VOLUME II.— CODE OF PROCEDURE. TITLE 10. Sec. 798. — Accountability for falsely charging crime. Every charge of incest, fornication, adultery, or whoredom falsely made WEST VIRGINIA. IIS by any person against a female, also words falsely spoken of any person charging such person with incest or the infamous crime against nature, either with mankind or the brute creation, shall be accountable (actionable) in the same manner as in the case of slanderous words charging a crime, the commission of which would subject the offender to death or other degrading penalties. WEST VIRGINIA. CONSTITUTION, 1872. ARTICLE 3. Sec. 7 — No law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, shall be passed ; but the legislature may, by suitable penal- ties, restrain the publication or sale of obscene books, papers or pictures, and provide for the punishment of libel, and defamation of character, and for the recovery, in civil actions, by the aggrieved party of suitable damages for such libel or defamation. Sec. 8 — In prosecutions, and civil suits for libel, the truth may be given in evidence ; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives, and for justifiable ends, the verdict shall be for the •defendant. CODE OF WEST VIRGINIA, 1891. By JOHN A. WARTH. CHAPTER 103. Par. 2 — All words which, from their usual construction and common acceptation, are construed as insults, and tend to violence and breach of the peace, shall be actionable. No demurrer shall preclude a jury from passing thereon. CHAPTER 104. Sec. 12 — Limitation of personal actions not specifically provided for. Every personal action for which no limitation is otherwise Il6 WISCONSIN. prescribed, shall be brought within five years next after the right to bring the same shall have accrued, if it be for a matter of such nature that, in case a party die it can be brought by or against his representatives ; and, if it be for matter not of such nature, shall be brought within one year next after the right to bring the same shall have accrued, and not after. - CHAPTER 130. Par. 47. — Evidence in mitigation of damages. In any action for defamation the defendant may justify by alleging and proving that the words spoken or written were true, and after notice in writing of his intention to do so (given to the plaintiff at the time of, or for, pleading to such action), may give in evidence in mitigation of damages, that he made or offered an apology to the plaintiff for such defamation before the commencement of the action, or as soon afterwards as he had an opportunity of doing so, in case action shall have been commenced before there was an opportunity of making or offering such apology. WISCONSIN. CONSTITUTION, 1848. ARTICLE 1. Sec. T,.-^Liberty of speech — Libel. Every person may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right, and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions, or indictments for libel, the truth may be given in evidence, and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous be true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted ; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts. WISCONSIN. 117 SANBORN & BERRYMAN'S STATUTES OF WISCONSIN, 1889. VOLUME II. Sec. 2677. — Libel and slander, how pleaded. In an action for libel or slander, it shall not be necessary to state in the complaint any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the plaintiff of the .defamatory matters out of which the cause of action arose ; but it shall be sufficient to state generally that the same was published or spoken concerning the plaintiff ; and if such allegation be controverted, the plaintiff shall be bound to estab- lish on the trial that it was so published or spoken. Sec. 2678. — Answer in such cases. In the actions mentioned in the last section, the defendant may in his answer allege both the truth of the matter charged as defamatory, and any mitigat- ing circumstances, to reduce the amount of damages ; and whether he prove the justification or not, he may give in evidence the miti- .gating circumstances. Sec. 2918. — Provides inter alia that if in actions for slander or libel the plaintiff recovers less than fifty dollars damages, he shall recover no more costs than damages. Sec. 3252. — Provides that tort actions brought by and against executors, etc., shall not extend to actions for libel or slander. Sec. 3573. — Provides that justices of the peace shall not have jurisdiction in actions for libel or slander. Sec. 4201. — pleading in slander and libel. If the defendant in any action for slander, or for publishing a libel, shall set up in the answer that the words spoken or published were true, such answer, though not maintained by evidence, shall not, in any case, be of itself proof of the malice alleged in the complaint. Sec. 4224. — Provides that actions for libel and slander must be brought within two years. Sec. 4569. — Libel, penalty for. Any person guilty of libel shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail, not more than one year, or by fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars. Il8 WYOMING. WYOMING. CONSTITUTION, 1889. ARTICLE I. Sec. 20. — Every person may freely speak, write and publish on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right ; and in all trials for libel, both civil and criminal, the truth, when pub- lished with good intent and for justifiable ends, shall be a sufficient defense, the jury having the right to determine the facts and the law, under the direction of the court. REVISED STATUTES OF WYOMING, 1887. CRIMES. Sec. 978. — Libelling person for not accepting challenge. If any person or persons shall, in any newspaper or handbill, written or printed, publish or proclaim any other person or persons as cow- ard or cowards, or use any other opprobrious or abusive language for not accepting a challenge to fight a duel, such person or per- sons so offending, on conviction, shall be fined in a sum not ex- ceeding five hundred dollars, or imprisoned for a term not exceed- ing three months. The publisher or printer of any such news- paper, handbill or other publication may be summoned as a wit- ness, and shall be required to testify against the writer or writers of such handbill or publication, and if any such printer or printers shall refuse to testify in relation to the premises, either before the grand or petit jury, he or they shall be deemed guilty of a flagrant contempt of the court, and may be punished by fine and impris- onment, or either; provided, however, that the testimony given by such witness shall in no case be used in any prosecution against such witness. Sec. 979. — Libel. A libel is a malicious defamation, expressed either by printing, or by signs, or pictures, or the like, tending to- blacken the memory of one who is dead, or to impeach the honesty, integrity, virtue or reputation, or publish the natural defects of one who is alive, and thereby expose him or her to public hatred, contempt or ridicule. Every person, whether writer or publisher. WYOMING. 119 convicted of this offense, shall be fined in a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, or imprisoned in the penitentiary not exceed- ing one year. In all prosecutions for libel, the truth thereof may be given in evidence in justification, except libel tending to blacken the memory of the dead, or to expose the natural defects of the living. CIVIL PROCEDURE. Sec. 2061. — Provides that actions for slander and libel shall not survive to the executor or administrator. Sec. 2372. — Provides that actions for libel and slander must be brought within one year. Sec. 2480. — Libel for slander. In an action for libel or slander, it shall be sufficient to state generally that the defamatory matter was published or spoken of the plaintiff ; if the allegation be denied, the plaintiff must prove the facts, showing that the defamatory matter was published or spoken of him ; and in such action it shall not be necessary to set out any obscene word, but it shall be sufficient to state its substance. Sec. 2481. — Answer and proof in such action. In the action mentioned in the last preceding section the defendant may allege and prove the truth of the matter charged as defamatory ; and in every case he may prove any mitigating circumstances to reduce the amount of damages. Sec. 2531. — Provides that actions for libel and slander and certain others shall abate by the death of either party. 122 STATUTES OF ENGLAND. FOX'S ACT, 32 GEO. III., C. 60. An Act to remove doubts respecting the Functions of Juries in cases of Libel. (A. D. 1792.) On the trial of an indictment for a libel the jury may give a general verdict upon the whole matter put in issue, and shall not be required by the court to find the defendant guilty merely on proof of the publication and of the sense ascribed to it in the information. — Whereas doubts have arisen whether on the trial of an indict- ment for information for the making or publishing any libel, where an issue or issues are joined between the king and the defendant or defendants, on the plea of not guilty pleaded, it be competent to the jury impanelled to try the same to give their verdict upon the whole matter in issue : Be it therefore declared and enacted by the king's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that on every such trial, the jury sworn to try the issue may give a general verdict of guilty or not guilty upon the whole matter put in issue upon such indictment or infor- mation ; and shall not be required or directed, by the court or judge before whom such indictment or information shall be tried, to find the defendant or defendants guilty, merely on proof of the publication by such defendant or defendants of the paper charged to be a libel, and of the sense ascribed to the same in such indict- ment or information. 2. But the court shall give their opinion and directions on the matter in issue as in other criminal cases.— Vrovid^^A^ always, that, on every such trial, the court or judge before whom such indict- ment or information shall be tried, shall, according to their or his discretion, give their or his opinion and directions to the jury on the matter in issue between the king and the defendant or defend- ants, in like manner as in other criminal cases. 3. Jury may find a special verdict. — Provided also, that nothing herein contained shall extendi or be construed to extend to pre- vent the jury from finding a special verdict, in their discretion, as in other criminal cases. 4. Defendants may move in arrest of judgment, as before passing this act. — Provided also, that in case the jury shall find the de- fendant or defendants guilty, it shall and may be lawful for the said defendant or defendants to move in arrest of judgment on such ground and in such manner as by law he or they might have done STATUTES OF ENGLAND. 1 23 before the passing of this act ; anything herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding. 60 GEO. III. AND I GEO. IV., C. 8. (30th Dec, 1819.) Court to make order for the seizure of copies of the libel in posses- sion of the persons against whom verdicts shall have beeti had, etc. — Evidence of possession being given upon oath. — In case of refusal of admission, proceedings. — Whereas it is expedient to make more effectual provision for the punishment of blasphemous and sediti- ous libels. Be it enacted by the king's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that from and after the passing of this act, in every case in which any verdict or judgment by default shall be had against any person for composing, printing or publishing any blasphemous libel, or any seditious libel tend- ing to bring into hatred or contempt the person of his Majesty, his heirs or successors, or the Regent, or the government and constitution of the United Kingdom as by law established, or either House of Parliament, or to excite his Majesty's subjects to attempt the alteration of any matter in church or state as by law established otherwise than by lawful means, it shall be lawful for the judge, or the court before whom or in which such verdict shall have been given, or the court in which such judgment by default shall be had, to make an order for the seizure and carrying away and detaining, in safe custody, in such manner as shall be directed in such order, all copies of the libel which shall be in the possession of the person against whom such verdict or judgment shall have been had, or in the possession of any other person named in the order for his use ; evidence upon oath having been previously given to the satisfac- tion of the court or judge that a copy or copies of the said libel is or are in the possession of such other person for the use of the person against whom such verdict or judgment shall have been had as aforesaid ; and in every such case it shall be lawful for any justice of the peace, or for any constable, or other peace officer acting under any such order, or for any person or persons acting with or in aid of any such justice of the peace, constable, or other peace officer, to search for any copies of such libel in any house, building, or other place whatsoever belonging to the person against whom any such verdict or judgment shall have been had, or to any other person so' named in whose possession any copies 124 STATUTES OF ENGLAND. of any such libel belonging to the person against whom any such verdict or judgment shall have been had, shall be; and in case admission shall be refused, or not obtained within a reasonable time after it shall have been first demanded, to enter by force by day into any such house, building, or place whatsoever, and to carry away all copies of the libel there found, and to detain the same in safe custody until the same shall be restored under the provisions of this act, or disposed of according to any further order made in relation thereto. 2. In what case copies of libels seized restored without fee, etc., or disposed of as court shall direct. — And be it further enacted, that if in any such case as aforesaid, judgment shall be arrested, or if, after judgment shall have been entered, the same shall be reversed upon any writ of error, all copies so seized shall be forthwith re- turned to the person or persons from whom the same shall have been so taken as aforesaid, free of all charge and expense, and without the payment of any fees whatever ; and in every case in which final judgment shall be entered upon the verdict so found against the person or persons charged with having composed, printed or published such libel, then all copies so seized shall be disposed of as the court in which such judgment shall be given shall order and direct. 4. Second offense. — Punishment. — And be it further enacted, that if any person shall, after the passing of this act, be legally con- victed of having after the passing of this act composed, printed, or published any blasphemous libel or any such seditious libel as aforesaid, and shall, after being so convicted, offend a second time, and be thereof legally convicted before any commission of oyer and terminer of gaol delivery, or in his Majesty's Court of King's Bench, such person may, on such second conviction, be adjudged, at the discretion of the court, either to suffer such punishment as may now by law be inflicted in cases of high misde- meanors, or to be banished from the United Kingdom and all other parts of his Majesty's dominions, for such term of years as the court in which such conviction shall take place shall order. 6 AND 7 WILL. IV., C. 76. (A. D. 1836.) 19. Discovery of proprietors, printers or publishers of ruwspapers may be enforced by bill, etc. — If any person shall file any bill in any court for the discovery of the name of any person concerned as printer, publisher or proprietor of any newspaper, or of any mat- STATUTES OF ENGLAND. 1 25 ters relative to the printing or publishing of any newspaper, in order the more effectually to bring or carry on any suit or action for damages alleged to have been sustained by reason of any slan- derous or libelous matter contained in any such newspaper re- specting such person, it shall not be lawful for the defendant to plead or demur to such bill, but such defendant shall be compell- able to make the discovery required ; provided always, that such discovery shall not be made use of as evidence or otherwise in any proceeding against the defendant, save only in that proceed- ing for which the discovery is made.* 3 AND 4 VICT., C. 9. An Act to give Summary Protection to Persons etnployed in the Pub- lication of Parliamentary Papers. (14th April, 1840.) Proceedings, criminal or civil, against persons for publication of papers printed by order of Parliament, to be stayed upon delivery of a certificate and affidavit to the effect that such publication is by order of either House of Parliament. — Whereas it is essential to the due and effectual exercise and discharge of the functions and duties of Parliament, and to the promotion of wise legislation, that no ob- structions or impediments should exist to the publication of such of the reports, papers, votes, or proceedings of either House of Parliament, as such House of Parliament may deem fit or neces- sary to be published ; and whereas obstructions or impediments to such publication have arisen and hereafter may arise by means of civil or criminal proceedings being taken against persons em- ployed by or acting under the authority of the Houses of Parlia- , ment, or one of them, in the publication of such reports, papers, votes or proceedings ; by reason and for remedy whereof it is ex- pedient that more speedy protection should be afforded to all persons acting under the authority aforesaid, and that all such civil or criminal proceedings should be summarily put an end to, and determined in manner hereinaftei: mentioned. Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by arid with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Com- mons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that it shall and may be lawful for any person or persons who now is or are, or hereafter shall be, a defendant or * This section was re-enacted by 32 and 33 Vict., c. 24, Sched. II., and is still the law. The original statute, 6 and 7 Will. IV., o. 76, was entirely repealed, no reference, how- ever, beinjsf made to this section. 126 STATUTES OF ENGLAND. defendants in any civil or criminal proceedings commenced or prosecuted in any manner soever, for or on account, or in respect of the publication of any such report, paper, votes or proceed- ings, by such person or persons, or by his, her, or their servant or servants, by or under the authority of either House of Parliament, to bring before the court in which such proceeding shall have been or shall be so commenced or prosecuted, or before any judge of the same (if one of the superior courts at Westminster), first giving twenty-four hours' notice of his intention so to do to the prosecutor or plaintiff in such proceeding, a certificate under the hand of the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, or of the Speaker of the House of Lords for the time being, or of the Clerk of the Parliaments, or of the Speaker of the House of Commons, or of the Clerk of the same House, stating that the report, paper, votes, or proceedings, as the case may be, in respect whereof such civil or criminal pro- ceeding shall have been commenced or prosecuted, was published by such person or persons, or by his, her, or their servant or servants by order or under the authority of the House of Lords, or of the House of Commons, as the case may be, together with an affidavit verifying such certificate ; and such court or judge shall thereupon immediately stay such civil or criminal proceed- ing, and the same, and every writ or process issued therein shall be, and shall be deemed and taken to be, finally put an end to, de- termined, and superseded by virtue of this act. 2. Proceedings to be stayed when commenced in respect of a copy of an authenticated report, etc. — And be it enacted, that in case of any civil or criminal proceeding hereafter to be commenced or pros- ecuted for or on account or in respect of the publication of any copy of such report, paper, votes, or proceedings, it shall be law- ful for the defendant or defendants at any stage of the proceedings to lay before the court or judge such report, paper, votes or proceedings, and such copy, with an affidavit verifying such re- port, paper, votes, or proceedings, and the correctness of such cop/, and the court or judge shall immediately stay such civil or criminal proceeding, and the same, and every writ and process issued therein, shall be deemed and taken to be finally put an end to, determined, and superseded by virtue of this act. J. In proceedings for printing any extract, etc., it may be shown that extract was bona fide made. — And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful in any civil or criminal proceeding to be commenced or prosecuted for printing any extract from or abstract of such re- port, paper, votes, or proceedings, to give in evidence under the STATUTES OF ENGLAND. 12/ general issue such report, paper, votes, or proceedings, and to show that such extract or abstract was published bona fide and without malice ; and if such shall be the opinion of the jury, a verdict of not guilty shall be entered for the defendant or de- fendants. 4. Act not to affect privileges of Parliament. — Provided always, and it is hereby expressly declared and enacted, that nothing here- in contained shall be deemed or taken, or held, or construed, ■directly or indirectly, by implication or otherwise, to affect the privileges of Parliament in any manner whatsoever. LORD CAMPBELL'S ACT, 6 & 7 VICT., C. 96. An Act to amend the Law respecting Defamatory Words and Libel. (24th August, 1843). Offer of an apology admissible in evidence in mitigation of damages. — For the better protection of private character, and for more effect- ually securing the liberty of the press, and for better preventing abuses in exercising the said liberty, be it enacted, by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and con- sent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that in any action for defamation it shall be lawful for the defend- ant (after notice in writing of his intention so to do, duly given to the plaintiff at the time of filing or delivering the plea in such action) to give in evidence, in mitigation of damages, that he made or offered an apology to the plaintiff for such defamation before the commencement of the action, or as soon afterwards as "he had an opportunity of doing so, in case the action shall have been commenced before there was an opportunity of making or offering such apology. 2. In an action against a newspaper for libel, the defendant may ' plead that it was inserted -without malice and without neglect, and may pay money into court as amends. — And be it enacted, that in an action for a libel contained in any public newspaper or other periodical publication, it shall be competent to the defendant to plead that such libel was inserted in such newspaper or other periodical ' publication without actual malice and without gross negligence, and that before the commencement of the action, or at the earliest opportunity afterwards, he inserted in such newspaper or other periodical publication a full apology for the said libel, or if the newspaper or periodical publication in which the said libel appeared should be ordinarily published at intervals exceeding 128 STATUTES OF ENGLAND. one week, had offered to publish the said apology in any news- paper or periodical publication to be selected by the plaintiff in such action ; and that to such plea to such action it shall be competent to the plaintiff to reply generally, denying the whole of such plea. 3. Publishing or threatening to publish a libel, etc., with intent to extort money, punishable by imprisonment with hard labor. — And be it enacted, that if any person shall publish or threaten to publish any libel upon any other person, or shall directly or indirectly threaten to print or publish, or shall directly or indirectly propose to abstain from printing or pubHshing, or shall directly or indirectly offer to prevent the printing or publishing of any matter or thing touching any other person, with intent to extort any money or security for money, or any valuable thing, from such or any other person, or with intent to induce any person to confer or procure for any person any appointment or office of profit or trust, every such offender, on being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be im- prisoned, with or without hard labor, in the common gaol or house of correction, for any term not exceeding three years ; provided always that nothing herein contained shall in any manner alter or affect any law now in force in respect of the sending or delivery of threatening letters or writings. 4. Punishment of false defamatory libel — And be it enacted, that if any person shall maliciously publish any defamatory libel, knowing the same to be false, every such person, being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be imprisoned in the common gaol or house of correction for any term not exceeding two years, and to pay such fine as the court shall award. 5. Punishment of malicious defamatory libel. — And be it enacted that if any person shall maliciously publish any defamatory libel, every such person, being convicted thereof, shall be liable to fine or imprisonment, or both, as the court rnay award, such imprison- ment not to exceed the term of one year. 6. Proceedings upon the trial of an indictment or information for a defamatory libel. — Double plea. — Plea of not guilty in civil and criminal proceedings. — And be it enacted, that on the trial of any indictment or information for a defamatory libel, the defendant having pleaded such a plea as hereinafter mentioned, the truth of the matters charged may be inquired into, but shall not amount to a defense, unless it was for the public benefit that the said matters charged should be published ; and that to entitle the defendant to give evidence of the truth of such matters charged as a defense to such indictment or information, it shall STATUTES OF ENGLAND. 1 29 be necessary for the defendant, in pleading to the said indictment or information, to allege the truth of the said matters charged in the manner now required in pleading a justification to an action for defamation, and further to allege that it was for the public benefit that the said matters charged should be published, and the particular fact or facts by reason whereof it was for the public benefit that the said matters charged should be published, to which plea the prosecutor shall be at liberty to reply generally, denying the whole thereof ; and that if, after such plea, the defendant shall be convicted on such indictment or information, it shall be competent to the court, in pronouncing sentence, to consider whether the guilt of the defendant is aggravated or mitigated by the said plea, and by the evidence given to prove or to disprove the same ; provided always, that the truth of the matters charged in the alleged libel complained of by such indictment or information shall in no case be inquired into without such plea of justification ; provided also, that in addi- tion to such plea it shall be competent to the defendant to plead^ a plea of not guilty ; provided also, that nothing in this act con- tained shall take away or prejudice any defense under the plea of not guilty, which it is now competent to the defendant to make under such plea, to any action or indictment, or information for defamatory words or libel. 7. Evidence to rebut prima facie case of publication by an agent. — And be it enacted, that whensoever, upon the trial of any indict- ment or information for the publication of a libel under the plea of not guilty, evidence shall have been given which shall establish a presumptive case of publication against the defendant by the act of any other person by his authority, it shall be competent to such defendant to prove that such publication was made without his authority, consent, or knowledge, and that the said publication did not arise from want of due care or caution on his part. 8. On prosecution for private libel defendant entitled to costs on acquittal. — And be it enacted, that in the case of any indictment or information by a private prosecutor for the publication of any defamatory libel, if judgment shall be given for the defendant, he shall be entitled to recover from the prosecutor the costs sustained by the said defendant by reason of such indictment or informa- tion ; and that upon a special plea of justification to such indict- ment or information, if the issue be found for the prosecutor, he shall be entitled to recover from the defendant the costs sustained by the prosecutor by reason of such plea, such costs so to be recovered by the defendant or prosecutor respectively, to be taxed I30 STATUTES OF ENGLAND. by the proper officer of the court before which the said indictment or information is tried, 9. Interpretation of act. — And be it enacted, that wherever throughout this act, in describing the plaintiff or the defendant, or party affected or intended to be affected by the offense, words are used importing the singular number or the masculine gender only, yet they shall be understood to include several persons as well as one person, and females as well as males, unless when the nature of the provision or the context of the act shall exclude such construction. 10. Commencement and extent of act. — And be it enacted, that this act shall take effect from the first day of November next ; and that nothing in this act contained shall extend to Scotland. 8 AND 9 VICT., C. 75. An Act to amend an Act passed in the session of Parliament held in the sixth and seventh years of the reign of her present Majestyt intituled " An Act to amend the Law respecting Defamatory Words and Libel." (31st July, 1845.) In cases of action for libel in Ireland where defendant shall plead matters allowed by 3 and 4 Will. IV., c. 42, and pay money into court, such payment to be of the effect as if required by said act. — Whereas, by an act passed in the session of Parliament held in the sixth and seventh years of the reign of her present Majesty, intituled "An Act to amend the Law respecting Defamatory Words and Libel," it is amongst other things enacted- and provided, that the defendant, in an action for a libel contained in any public newspaper, or other periodical publication, may plead certain matters therein men- tioned, and may upon filing such plea be at liberty to pay into court a sum of money by way of amends for the injury sustained by the publication of such libel ; and it is thereby further enacted, that such payment into court shall be of the same effect, and be available in the same manner and to the same extent, and be subject to the same rules and regulations as to payment of costs and the form of pleading, except so far as regards the plead- ing of the additional facts thereinbefore required to be pleaded by such defendant, as if actions for libel had not been excepted from the personal actions in which it is lawful to pay money into court under an act passed in the session of Parliament held in the fourth year of his late Majesty, intituled " An Act for the further amend- ment of the Law and the better Advancement of Justice ;" and whereas the said act of the fourth year of the reign of his STATUTES OF ENGLAND. 13I late Majesty relates only to proceedings in the superior courts in England, but by an act passed in the session of Parliament held in the third and fourth years of the reign of her present Majesty^ intituled " An Act for abolishing Arrest on Mesne Process in Civil Actions, except in certain cases, for extending the Remedies of Creditors against the Property of Debtors, and for the further advancement of Justice " in Ireland, a like provision is made for payment of money into court in all personal actions pending in any of the superior courts in Ireland as is contained in the said act of the fourth year of the reign of his late Majesty in regard to actions pending in the superior courts in England, with a like exception of actions for libel ; and it is expedient to prevent any doubts as to the application of the said recited act of the sixth and seventh years of the reign of her present Majesty to actions pending in the superior courts in Ireland, which may be created by reason of the omission of a reference in the last- mentioned act to the said act of the third and fourth years of the reign of her present Majesty : Be it therefore enacted and declared by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Com- mons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that where in any action pending in the superior courts in Ireland for a libel contained in any public newspaper or other periodical publication, the defendant shall plead the matters allowed to be pleaded by the said first-mentioned act, and shall on filing such plea pay money into court as provided by such act, such payment into court shall be of the same effect and be avail- able in the same manner and to the same extent, and be subject to the same rules and regulations now in force, or hereafter to be made, as to payment of costs and the form of pleading, except so far as regards the pleading of the additional facts so required to be pleaded by such defendant, as if actions for libel had not been excepted from the personal actions in which it is lawful to pay money into court under the said recited act of the third and fourth years of the reign of her present Majesty. 2. Defendant not to file such plea without paying money into court by way of amends. — And be it declared and enacted, that it shall not be competent to any defendant in such action, whether in England or in Ireland, to file any such plea without at the same time making a payment of money into court by way of amends, as provided by the said act, but every such plea so filed without payment of money into court shall be deemed a nullity^ and may be treated as such by the plaintiff in the action. 132 STATUTES OF ENGLAND. 15 AND 16 VICT., C. 76, S. 61. Declaration for libel or slander. — In actions of libel and slander the plaintiff shall be at liberty to aver that the words or matter complained of were used in a defamatory sense, specifying such defamatory sense without any prefatory averment to show how such words or matter were used in that sense ; and such averment shall be put in issue by the denial of the alleged libel or slander; and where the words or matter set forth, with or without the alleged meaning, show a cause of action, the declaration shall be sufficient. 31 AND 32 VICT., C. 96. An act to assimilate the law in Ireland to the law in England as to costs in actions of libel (31 and ^2 Vict., c. 69). — Whereas, it is ex- pedient to assimilate the law in Ireland to the law in England as to costs in actions of libel : Be it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice of and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Par- liament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : 1. In all actions for libel where the jury shall give damages under forty shillings, the plaintiff shall not be entitled to more costs than damages, unless the judge .before whom such verdict shall be obtained shall immediately afterwards certify on the back of the record that the libel was wilful and malicious. 2. This act shall not apply to England and Scotland, and for all purposes may be cited as the Libel Act (Ireland), 1868. 44 AND. 45 VICT., C. 60. • An Act to. amend the Law of Newspaper Libel, and to provide for the Registration of Newspaper Proprietors. (27th August, 1881.) Whereas, it, is expedient to amend the law affecting civil actions and criminal prosecutions for newspaper libel : And whereas, it is also expedient to provide for the registra- tion of newspaper proprietors : Be it enacted by the Queen's'most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : 1. — Interpretation. In the construction of this act, unless there is anything in the subject or context repugnant thereto, the STATUTES OF ENGLAND. 1 33 several words and phrases hereinafter mentioned shall have and include the meanings following ; that is to say : The word " registrar '' shall mean in England the registrar for the time being of joint stock companies, or such person as the Board of Trade may, for the time being, authorize in that behalf, and in Ireland the assistant registrar for the time being of joint stock companies for Ireland, or such person as the Board of Trade may for the time being authorize in that behalf. The phrase "registry office '' shall mean the principal office for the time being of the registrar in England or Ireland, as the case may be, or such other office as the Board of Trade may from time to time appoint. The word "newspaper" shall meanany paper containing public news, intelligence, or occurrences, or any remarks or observations therein printed for sale, and published in England or Ireland periodically, or in parts or numbers at intervals not exceeding twenty-six days between the publication of any two such papers, parts, or numbers. Also any printed paper in order to be dispersed, and made public weekly or oftener, or at intervals, not exceeding twenty-six •days, containing only or principally advertisements. The word "occupation " when applied to any. person shall mean his trade or following, and if none, then his rank or usual title, as esquire, gentleman. The phrase "place of residence" shall include the street, square, or place where the person to whom it refers shall reside, and the number (if any) or other designation of the house in which he shall so reside. The word "proprietor" shall mean and include as well the sole proprietor of any newspaper, as also in the case of a divided pro- prietorship the persons who, as partners or otherwise, represent and are responsible for any share or interest in the newspaper as between themselves and the persons in like manner representing or resp'bnsible for the other shares or interests therein, and no other person. 2. — Repealed. See Sections 2 and /^ of Acts of ^i and ^,2 Vict., 4. 64. 3. — Repealed. See Section 8 of Acts of ^i and 5 2 Vict., c. 64. 4. — Inquiry by court of summary jurisdiction as to libel being for public benefit or being true. A court of summary jurisdiction, upon the hearing of a charge against a proprietor, publisher, or editor, or any person responsible for the publication of a newspaper, for a libel published therein, may receive evidence as to the publica- 134 STATUTES OF ENGLAND. tion being for the public benefit, and as to the matters charged in the libel being true, and as to the report being fair and accurater and published without malice, and as to any matter which under this or any other act, or otherwise, might be given in evidence by way of defense by the person charged on his trial on indictment, and the court, if of opinion after hearing such evidence that there is a strong or probable presumption that the jury on the trial would acquit the person charged, may dismiss the case. 5- — Provision as to summary conviction for libel. If a court of summary jurisdiction upon the hearing of a charge against a pro- prietor, publisher, editor, or any person responsible for the publi- cation of a newspaper for a libel published therein, is of opinion that though the person charged is shown to have been guilty, the Mbel was of a trivial character, and that the offense may be ade- quately punished by virtue of the powers of this section, the court shall cause the charge to be reduced into writing and read to the person charged, and then address a question to him to the following effect : " Do you desire to be tried by a jury, or do you consent to the case being dealt with summarily?" and if such person assents to the case being dealt with summarily, the court may summarily convict him and adjudge him to pay a fine not exceeding fifty pounds. Section twenty-seven of the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879,. shall, so far as is consistent with the tenor thereof, apply to every sucn proceeding as if it were herein enacted and extended to Ire- land, and as if the Summary Jurisdiction Acts were therein referred to instead of the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1848. 6. — 22 and 23 Vict., c. 17, made applicable to this act. Every libel or alleged libel, and every offense under this act, shall be deemed to be an offense within and subject to the provisions of the act of the session of the twenty-second and twenty-third years of the reign of her present Majesty, chapter seventeen, intituled " An Act to prevent vexatious indictments for certain misdemeanors." 7.; — Board of Trade may authorize registration of the name! of onh a portion of the proprietors of a' newspaper. Where, in the opinion of the Board of Trada, inconvenience would arise or be caused in any case from the registry of the names of all the proprietors of the newspaper (either owing to minority, coverture, absence from the United Kingdom, minute subdivision of shares, or other special circumstances), it shall be lawful for the Board of Trade to authorize the registration of such newspaper in the name or names of some one or more responsible " representative pro- prietors." STATUTES OF ENGLAND. 135 8. — Register of newspaper proprietors to be established. A register of the proprietors of newspapers as defined by this act shall be established under the superintendence of the registrar. 9. — Annual returns to be made. It shall be the duty of the print- ers and publishers for the time being of every newspaper to make or cause to be made to the Registry Office on or before the thirty- first of July, one thousand eight hundred atid eighty-one, and thereafter annually in the month of July in every year, a return of the following particulars, according to Schedule A, hereunto annexed ; that is to say : (a) The title of a newspaper. (b) The names of all the proprietors of such newspaper, to- gether with their respective occupations, places of business (if any), and places of residence. ^o.-f-Penalty for omission to make annual returns. If within the, further period of one month after the time hereinbefore appointed for the making of any return as to any newspaper, such return be not made, then each printer and publisher of such newspaper shall, on conviction thereof, be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty- five pounds, and also to be directed by a summary order to make a return within a specified time. II. — Power to party to make return. Any party to a transfer or transmission of or dealing with any share of or interest in any newspaper whereby any person ceases to be a proprietor, or any new proprietor is introduced, may at any time make or cause to be made to the Registry Office a return according to Schedule B, hereunto annexed, and containing the particulars therein set forth. 12. — Penalty for wilful misrepresentation in or omission from re- turn. If any person shall knowingly and wilfully make or cause to be made any return by this act required or permitted to be made, in which shall be inserted or set forth the name of any per- son as a proprietor of a newspaper who shall not be a proprietor thereof, or in which there shall be any misrepresentation, or from which there shall be any omission in respect of any of the par- ticulars by this act required to be contained therein whereby such return shall be misleading, or if any proprietor of a newspaper shall knowingly and wilfully permit any such return to be made which shall be misleading as to any of the particulars with ref- erence to his own name, occupation, place of business (if any), or place of residence, then and in every such case every such offender being convicted thereof shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds. 13. — Registrar to enter returns in register. It shall be the duty of \ 136 STATUTES OF ENGLAND. the Registrar and he is hereby required forthwith to register every return made in conformity with the provisions of this act in a book to be kept for that purpose at the Registry Office and called " the register of newspaper proprietors," and all persons shall be at liberty to search and inspect the said book from time to time during the hours of business at the Registry Office, and any per- son may require a copy of any entry in or an extract from the book to be certified by the Registrar or his deputy for the time being or under the official seal of the Registrar. 14. — J^ees payable for Registrar's services. There shall be paid in respect of the receipt and entry of returns made in conformity with the provisions of this act, and for the inspection of the register of newspaper proprietors, and for certified copies of any entry therein, and in respect of any other services to be performed by the Registrar, such fees (if any) as the Board of Tracje with the approval of the Treasury may direct, and as they shall deem requisite to defray as well the additional expenses of the Registry Office caused by the provisions of this act, as also the further re- munerations and salaries (if any) of the Registrar, and of any other persons employed under him in the execution of this act, and such fees shall be dealt with as the Treasury may direct. 15.- — Copies of entries in and extracts from register to be evidence. Every copyof an entry in or extract from the register of news- paper proprietors, purporting to be certified by the Registrar or his deputy for the time being, or under the official seal of the Registrar, shall be received as conclusive evidence of the con- tents of the said register of newspaper proprietors, so far as the same appear in such copy or extract without proof of the signa- ture thereto or of the seal of office affixed thereto, and every such certified copy or extract shall in all proceedings, civil or criminal, be accepted as sufficient prima facie evidence of all the matters and things thereby appearing, unless and until the contrary there- of be shown. 16.— rRecovery of penalties and (n/orcement of orders. All penal- ties under this act may be recovered before a court of summary jurisdiction in manner provided by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts. Summary orders under this act may be made by a court of summary jurisdiction, and enforced in manner provided by sec- tion thirty-four of the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879 ; and, for the purposes of this act, that section shall be deemed to apply to Ireland in the same manner as if it were re-enacted in this act. STATUTES OF ENGLAND. 137 17. — Definitions. The expression " a court of summary jurisdic- tion " has in England the meanings assigned to it by the Sum- mary Jurisdiction Act, 1879 ; and in Ireland means any justice or justices of the peace, stipendiary or other magistrate or magis- trates, having jurisdiction under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts. The expression " summary jurisdiction acts " has, as regards England, the meanings assigned to it by the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879 ; and as regards Ireland, means within the police district of Dublin metropolis the acts regulating the powers and duties of justices of the peace for such district, or of the police of that district, and elsewhere in Ireland the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 185 1, and any act amending the same. 18. — Provisions as to registration of newspaper proprietors not to apply to newspaper belonging to a joint stock company. The provi- sions as to the registration of newspaper proprietors contained in this act shall not apply to the case of any newspaper which belongs to a joint stock company duly incorporated under and subject to the provisions of the Companies Acts, 1862 to 1879. 19. — Act not to extend to Scotland. This act shall not extend to Scotland. 20. — Short title. This act may for all purposes be cited as the Newspaper Libel and Registration Act, 1881. The schedules to which this act refers. SCHEDULE A. Return made pursuant to the Newspaper Libel and Registration Act, 1881. Title of the newspaper. Names of the proprietors. Occupations of the proprietors. Places of business (if any) of the proprietors. Places of residence of the proprietors. SCHEDULE B. Return made pursuant to the Newspaper Libel and Registration Act, 1881. Title of newspaper. Names of persons who cease to be pro- prietors. Names of persons who become proprietors. Occupation of new proprietors. Places of business (if any) of new proprietors. Places of residence of new proprietors. 51 AND 52 VICT., C. 64. An Act to Amend the Law of Libel. (24th December, 1888.) ^ Whereas, it is expedient to amend the law of libel : be it there- fore enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with 138 STATUTES OF ENGLAND. the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : I. — Interpretation. In the construction of this act the word " newspaper " shall have the same meaning as in the Newspaper Libel and Registration Act, i88i. 2. — Repeal of 44 and 4s Vict., c. do, s. 2. Section 2 of the News- paper Libel and Registration Act, 1881, is hereby repealed. 3. — Newspaper reports of proceedings in court privileged. A fair and accurate report in any newspaper of proceedings publicly heard before any court exercising judicial authority shall, if pub- lished contemporaneously with such proceedings, be privileged : Provided that nothing in this section shall authorize the publica- tion of any blasphemous or indecent matter. 4. — Newspaper reports of proceedings of public meetings and of certain bodies and persons privileged. A fair and accurate report published in any newspaper of the proceedings of a public meet- ing, or (except where neither the public nor any newspaper reporter is admitted) of any meeting of a vestry, town council, school board, board of guardians, board or local authority formed or constituted under the provisions of any Act of Parliament, or of any committee appointed by any of the above-mentioned bodies, or of any meeting of any commissioners authorized to act by letters patent. Act of Parliament, warrant under the Royal Sign Manual, or other lawful warrant or authority, select com- mittees of either House of Parliament, justices of the peace in quarter sessions assembled for administrative or deliberative pur- poses, and the publication at the request of any government office or department, officer of state, commissioner of police, or chief constable, of any notice or report issued by them for the informa- tion of the public, shall be privileged, unless it shall be proved that such report or publication was published or made maliciously : Provided that nothing in this section shall authorize the publica- tion of any blasphemous or indecent matter : Provided also, that the protection intended to be afforded by this section shall not be available as a defense in any proceedings if it shall be proved that the defendant has been requested to insert in the newspaper in which the report or other publication complained of appeared, a reasonable letter or statement by way of contradiction or explan- ation of such report or other publication, and has refused or neg- lected to insert the same : Provided further, that nothing in this section contained shall be deemed or construed to limit or abridge any privilege now by law existing, or to protect the publication of STATUTES OF ENGLAND. 1 39 any matter not of public concern and the publication of which is not for the public benefit. For the purposes of this section " public meetings " shall mean any meeting bona fide and lawfully held for a lawful pur- pose, and for the furtherance or discussion of any matter of public concern, whether the admission thereto be general or restricted. 5. — Consolidation of actions. It shall be competent for a judge or the court, upon an application by or on behalf of two or more defendants in actions in respect of the same, or substantially the same, libel brought by one and the same person, to make an order for the consolidation of such actions, so that they shall be tried together ; and after such order has been made, and before the trial of the said actions, the defendants in any new actions insti- tuted in respect to the same, or substantially the same, libel shall also be entitled to be joined in a common action upon a joint application being made by such new defendants and the defend- ants in the actions already consolidated. In a consolidated action under this section the jury shall assess the whole amount of the damages (if any) in one sum, but a separate verdict shall be taken for or against each defendant in the same way as if the actions consolidated had been tried separately ; and if the jury sh^U have found a verdict against the defendant or defendants in more than one of the actions so con- solidated, they shall proceed to apportion the amount of damages which they shall have so found between and against the said last-mentioned defendants ; and the judge at the trial, if he awards to the plaintiff the costs of the action, shall thereupon make such order as he shall deem just for the apportionment of such costs between and against such defendants. 6. — Power to defendant to give certain evidence in mitigation of damages. At the trial of an action for a libel contained in any newspaper the defendant shall be at liberty to give in evidence in mitigation of damages that the plaintiff has already recovered (or has brought actions for) damages or has received or agreed to receive compensation in respect of _ a libel or libels to the same purport or effect as' the libel for which such action has been brought. 7. — Obscene matter need not be set forth in indictment or other judicial proceeding. It shall not be necessary to set out in any indict- ment or other judicial proceeding instituted against the publisher of any obscene libel the obscene passages, but it shall be sufificient to deposit the book, newspaper, or other documents containing I40 STATUTES OF ENGLAND. the alleged libel with the indictment or other judicial proceeding, together with particulars showing precisely by reference to pages, columns, and lines in what part of the book, newspaper, or other document the alleged libel is to be found, and such particulars shall be deemed to form part of the record, and .all proceedings may be taken thereon as though the passages complained of had been set out in the indictment or judicial proceeding. 8. — Order of judge required for prosecution of newspaper pro- prietor, etc. Section three of the forty-fourth and forty-fifth Victoria, chapter sixty, is hereby repealed, and instead thereof be it enacted, that no criminal prosecution shall be commenced against any proprietor, publisher, editor, or any person responsible for the publication of a newspaper for any libel published therein without the order of a judge at chambers being first had and obtained. Such application shall be made on notice to the person accused, who shall have an opportunity of being heard against such application. , 9. — Person proceeded against criminally a competent witness. Every person charged with the offense of libel before any court of criminal jurisdiction, and the husband or wife of the person so charged, shall be competent, but not compellable, witnesses on every hearing at every stage of such charge. 10. — Extent of act. This act sUall not apply to Scotland. II. — Short title. ' This act may be cited as the Law of Libel Amendment Act, 1888. 54 AND 55 VICT., C. 51. An Act to Amend the Law Relating to the Slander of Women. (5th August, 1891.) Be it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and .consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : I — Amendment of law. Words spoken and published after the passing of this act which impute unchastity or adultery to any woman or girl shall not require special damage to render them actionable. Provided, always, that in any action for words spoken and made actionable by this act, a plaintiff shall not recover more costs than damages, unless the judge shall certify that there was reasonable ground for bringing the action. 2. — Short title and extent. This act may be cited as the Slander of Women Act, 1891, and shall not apply to Scotland. SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. I4I SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT TO THE LAWS ON LIBEL AND SLANDER. CHAPTER I. Origin of Present Laws — The Modern News- paper — The Inadequacy of Present Laws to its Needs. The principles of the law of libel and slander existing in the United States originated in the English Common Law. Upon the settlement of this country by the English colonists they brought with them the traditions, usages and rules of action applicable to the government and security of person and property with which they were familiar, including the statutes of a general nature then prevailing in England. All the states except Louisi- ana have in some form or other adopted the common law which thus constitutes the basis of the state jurisprudence except so far as modified by statute. The common law of libel and slander passed into our system as a part of the general whole. Subsequent statutes of England have no force in this coun- try. The same rule applies to subsequent repeals or modifications of the laws of England. We accordingly find in force in this country many of the old rules of the common law which have been discarded and repealed in England. The Declaratory Act of 1792, commonly called Fox's Act, was the first great step toward the freedom of the press in England, By it juries were declare'd to be competent to give a general ver- dict upon the whole matter put in issue, upon an indictment for libel. It took away from the court the power to direct the jury to find the defendant guilty merely on proof of publication of the alleged libel. This act having been adopted subsequent to the settlement of this country and the separation of the colonies from the mother country, has no force or application in, the United States. 142 SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. In examing.the law of libel in the form in which it descended to us from England, no one can fail to be impressed with the evident purpose of those who framed it to repress and silence public discussion. The courts of those early days were appointed by the Government, and in all political matters and controversies were creatures of the Government. Libel came within the jurisdiction of the Star Chamber. It was a misdemeanor at common law to publish political intelligence without the king's license, and the House of Commons resolved " that to print or publish any books or " libels reflecting upon the proceedings of the House of Commons, " or any member thereof, for or relating to his service therein, is a " high violation of the rights and privileges of the house." The attorney-general, by means of informations could bring pub- lishers to trial without an indictment or the intervention of grand juries, and at the trial the judge held under the law that the only question for the jury was that of publication. If the article was defamatory and the defendant published it, there was no escape, no matter what the motive of the publication was. The truth of the article could not be proved. The whole foundation of the law of libel and slander was that defamation tended to provoke a breach of the peace, therefore defamation, whether true or false, must be prohibited. The truth if defamatory would tend to provoke the person exposed, and the greater the truth the greater the danger of anger and a breach of the peace on his part ; there- fore the principle, the greater the truth the greater the libel followed as a necessary conclusion. Up to the time of the Act of 1792 the libel law of England was merely a protection of kingly prerogative. It was a legal bar to political or public discussion. The acts or discussions of parlia- ment could not be reported or criticised. The motives, general conduct and general principles of the party in power could not be attacked. Under such a state of facts free and open political dis- cussion could not exist. Freedom of the press was denied. In the colonies the same rules applied. The instructions of ■ royal governors down to the time of the revolution contained the following paragraph : " And forasmuch as great inconvenience " may arise by the liberty of printing within your province, you " are to provide by all necessary orders that no person keep " any press for printing, nor that any pamphlet, book or other " matter whatsoever be printed without your special leave and " license first obtained." These provisions of the common law of England were fortified by a long line of adjudications fixing the rules of evidence, the SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. 143 course of procedure, the presumptions of malice and the definitions of terms. The fiction that defamation is a misdemeanor because it tends to provoke a breach of the peace, was elaborated and car- ried to its logical results. It ignored any personal right to reputa- tion, credit and good name on the one hand, and on the other denied any right to freedom of speech or freedom of the press. This law of libel and slander, except so far as it has been modi- fied by the constitutional statutes of the several states, is still the law. The necessity of a free press first arrested public attention about the time of the American Revolution. The small importance of the press in the estimation of the public may be inferred from the fact that no mention of it appears in any of the great charters of liberty. The Bill of Rights, the Act of Settlement, the Declara- tion of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States as originally framed and adopted are alike silent upon the freedom of speech or of the press. By the first Amendment to the Consti- tution of the United States, Congress was prohibited from making any law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press. The constitutions of the several states as they joined the new govern- ment contained similar provisions, but no effort was made at that time nor for many years thereafter to change the law of libel and slander. The press of that day had been accustomed to censorships ; prohibitory licenses and oppressive taxes and freedom of the press was then understood to mean relief from these burdens. One of the most significant facts which arrest the attention in modern times is the extraordinary multiplication and dissemina- tion of newspapers. At the beginning of the present century the circulation of the "London Times" was 1,000 copies per day, and the aggregate circulation of the entire daily newspaper press of the city of London was only 4,000 copies a day. When Queen Vic- toria was crowned only 16 daily newspapers were published in the United Kingdom. In 1890 their number had been increased to more than 200. The aggregate circulation of the daily newspapers in the city of Chicago is to-day not less than 750,000 copies, and is greater than the aggregate circulation of all the daily news- papers in the United States in the year 1850. If we take into con- sideration the comparative size of the newspaper of to-day, and that of 1850, this comparison becomes still more surprising. ' The discovery and development of telegraphy has laid the whole world under tribute for news. The messenger and the post -have been superseded by the electric wire. The sun is distanced 144 SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. in his flight by the electric flash. The intelligence of noon to-day at London was published this morning in the San Francisco papers. More than a thousand correspondents, stationed all over the civilized world, to say nothing of the great co-operative news gathering organizations, like the Associated Press, call to their assistance the thoroughly equipped forces of a thousand other newspaper offices, situated in all the great news centres, and lay before us in a single issue the panorama of the world for a day. Another cause which has contributed largely to the multiplica- tion of newspapers, is the invention of the rapid power press. 200,000 eight-page papers can be printed, folded and delivered in an hour, by some newspaper establishments. The use of wood pulp in the manufacture of paper, combined possibly with other causes, has reduced the cost of paper to about one-half of its price ten years ago, and to a much smaller fraction of its cost twenty years ago. . The growth of population and the diffusion of intelligence among the masses have opened up and greatly extended the mar- ket for newspapers. Not many years ago, in the village store or the country tavern, upon the arrival of the stage bringing the single daily paper, a group would gather to listen to its contents, read aloud by the village schoolmaster, the squire or the preco- cious "pride of the village." In Walter Besant's " Fifty Years Ago," is a picture of such a scene, bearing the inscription, "Arri- val of the Coronation Number of the Sun — one paper and one man who can read it, in the town." Not only can almost every man and woman now read his or her paper, but every town has its paper. Often the paper antedates the town and is established to build it up. The railroad, the power press, cheap paper and the telegraph, have all combined to make the newspaper of to-day cheap and common. These radical changes in the conditions under which news- papers are made and sold have exerted a great influence upon the business of publishmg a newspaper. The newspaper office has become a great mercantile and man- ufacturing establishment. It must be equipped with extensive machinery and expensive appliances and facilities for the rapid handling of materials. To print 100,000 copies of a forty-page edition of a Sunday paper, which must be held back in order to in- clude the latest news, requires a large equipment. This must also be operated by trustworthy and skilled men, of a high grade of intelligence. In no place is promptitude and despatch more essen- SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. 145 tial than in th? mechanical department of a newspaper. Trains must be caught and orders filled to the minute, or not at all. In order that the paper may be printed and delivered in time, the stereotyped plates must be delivered to the press room in time. The ability of the stereotypers to do this, in turn, depends on their receiving the forms from the composing room. The type cannot be set, nor the forms filled, until the matter has been se- lected and furnished by the editorial and news departments of the paper. As the constant effort of every newspaper is to furnish the latest news, the forms must be held open until the last dispatch can be inserted, consistent with getting out the paper on time. From that moment everything goes at, high pressure until the last order has been filled and the presses have been stopped. Not only must the force of men and the equipment be adequate, but the discipline must be perfect and the control of the publisher must be supreme. In the gathering of news an equally complicated and extended organization is employed. A newspaper cannot safely print news derived from anonymous sources ; it would be the victim of impo- sition in cases without number. There are constantly parties stand- ing ready, prompted by their own interests, to impose upon the public. Against these a newspaper must constantly be upon its guard. On the other hand it cannot take the time to run down and verify news coming from a reliable source. It therefore be- comes necessary to establish news agencies, and to employ cor- respondents, on whose judgment and truthfulness the newspaper can safely rely. Press associations come into existence, and in a measure work out this problem ; but even they must be supple- mented by a large corps of correspondents, located at points not covered by the press associations, and at other points of special interest, where a corrrespondent adds to and reinforces the work of the press association. The correspondents of a single news- paper often number 1,500. The work and material of this army of correspondents must be examined, culled and edited as it comes hot from the wire, and in the rush of the Jast few hours before going to press. ■ This is but one part of the news-gathering department. The local field must also be covered by a force of reporters, ready for every emergency and on a constant hunt for something new and interesting. These must be employed and directed and their work supervised. One of the principal sources of revenue of a newspaper is its advertising. Here, again, an extensive department appears, re- quiring the employment of a large force of men. 146 SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. The multiplication of facilities for the manufacture and distri- bution of newspapers, and the cheapening of the cost of news- papers, have in turn greatly stimulated the purchase and reading of newspapers. The variety and extent of the news furnished by the morning newspapers, cheap postage, fast mails, the extension and improvement in the means of transportation and communica- tion between different parts of the country, the centralization of population in large cities, and the general diffusion of education among the masses, have brought to bear a combined influence under which the circulation of newspapers has grown like the cre- ations of Aladdin. In the great variety of news constantly poured in upon a mod- ern newspaper, the subjects of editorial comment of necessity are equally varied. Items of news come in quick succession. The sensation of to-day is forgotten to-morrow. Editorial comment must be directed to that in which the reader is at the time inter- ested. If the editor does not conform to the wants of his read- ers, they will desert him for some one who will. The methods above described are incident and necessary to the business of furnishing the public with news. The demands of the public cannot be satisfied by anything short of it. It has been evolved and developed by the efforts to meet the demands of the public. Every newspaper is held to strict and never-ending accountability to its readers. The success of its business and the value of its property is measured by the favor of the public. This favor cannot be secured nor retained without the pursuit of a general policy which commends itself to some portion of the public. Is it not remarkable that while the law of common carriers has broadened and developed into a great system which recognizes the railroad, the steamboat and the telegraph and all the complexities of modern business which have grown up around these great agencies, the law of libel ignores the existence of the modern newspaper and stand§ substantially where it did in the reign of James I. ? Is it not surprising that the great engine of public education and enlightenment which has been foremost in assisting and secur- ing reforms in the law in all other respects, should be content to leave the fourth estate to be governed by rules, usages and principles designed to suppress some malicious lampooner who clandestinely ran a hand press in an alley garret ? The presumption of malice from the mere fact of publication, which might properly apply to the writer or publisher of a paper SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. 147 which had sprung from the brain and had been made by the hands of a single person and addressed to a specific purpose, can have no proper application in a conclusive and final sense to a great newspaper establishment charged with the duty of giving a faith- ful presentation of daily and hourly intelligence upon all subjects and from all over the world. If such a presumption is still necessary for the protection of the public against the malicious defamer whose actual malice may exist without the proof of it being in the possession of the person defamed, then the right to rebut that presumption by showing the actual motives should be given. The fiction of the common law which places the basis and reason for the law of libel and slander upon the tendency of defamation to provoke breaches of the peace is a fundamental source of evil. It is pernicious, because it is deceptive and mis- leading. It is deceptive, because it conceals the true principles upon wViich any logical and consistent law must rest, and leads to conclusions subversive of individual rights and the freedom of the people. The right of the individual to his reputation, credit and good name is as clearly a personal right as is his right to the coat upon his back. The first is as truly the product of his efforts and of his self-denial as is the latter. If one of these rights is higher or more sacred than the other, the difference ought to be on the side of that one which is the natural result of integrity, morality and honorable conduct. Reputation is not only an absolute personal right which demands the protection of the law, but it alone gives a value to all our other rights and possessions. The integrity of our honor and reputation is one of the chief instruments of prosperity and success, and one of the most fertile sources of happiness. The man who has been unjustly deprived of his good name ought to have a right of action against his defamer, just as he is entitled to a right of action against a trespasser upon any other of his personal rights. The defamer ought to respond in damages for the same reason that a trespasser does. He ought to be punished for maliciously injuring another's good name, because the security, well-being and happiness of the community demand that the right to reputation be protected. The exercise of this right is subject to the same restrictions and limitations imposed upon all rights of the individual by the necessities of the general welfare. Every right of the individual must be exercised so as not to infringe upon the rights of others or of the public. Human experience has demonstrated that the 148 SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. free expression of thought and opinion is necessary to a free people. Freedom of discussion by tongue and pen is now uni- versally recognized as incompatible with an arbitrary govern- ment. " The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man." This thought is expressed in many forms in the organic law of the several States. In the Massachusetts Constitution the language is : " The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a State." In the Virginia Constitution, dated from its earliest adoption, is the statement : " That the freedom of the press is one of the " great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by " despotic governments." It therefore becomes the privilege of every person to publish whatever tends to serve the public good, providing he shall not unnecessarily and abusively invade private rights of reputation. The publication of falsehoods attacking individual character can- not be justified upon any theory of morality or public policy. If, however, it becomes necessary in the publication of the truth for the public benefit to defame the individual, as in the case of the exposure of an impostor, the latter has no cause of complaint, for he has been deprived of nothing to which he had a rightful claim, and the defamer ought not to be punished, because he has render- ed a public service. Under the common law of libel which we have received as our heritage, the impostor could not be lawfully exposed, because such exposure would provoke him to anger and tend to a breach of the peace. Whether the publication was true or not, whether for the public good or not, whether published with actual malice or not, were all equally immaterial. Malice was conclusively presumed from the character of the charge, and the rule was inflexible that if true and if for the public good, the words could not be published "because the statute was to prevent discords.'' This fiction was invented before the right of free speech and of a free press was understood, and it was woven into a long web of precedents and adjudications for the purpose of supplying a reason for making the truth a libel. It has always been the argu- ment of despotism, and there no longer exists any excuse for delaying its interment. The law of libel and slander needs no such delusive founda- tion. It can safely rest upon the two great principles : SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. 149 First. — The liberty of the press and the freedom of speech are essential to the security of freedom in a state, and Second. — The reputation, good name and credit of the in- dividual is a personal right, entitled to the full protection of the law. As early as 1843 this basis of the law of libel was recognized in England in the preamble of Lord Campbell's Act, in the fol- lowing words : " For the better protection of private character, " and for more eff ectualy securing the liberty of the press, and for " better preventing abuses in exercising the said liberty, be it " enacted, etc." In the statutes of California and Oklahoma protection from defamation is recognized as a personal right. CHAPTER II. CERTAIN SPECIFIC AMENDMENTS SUGGESTED. Paragraph i. — Plain and Explicit Statutes Necessary. The first great step in bringing the libel laws of this country to a consistent and harmonious system must be found in reducing the law in the several states to statutory form. Until that has been done no convenient form of comparison exists. In no other -way can obsolete forms and fictions be abolished. A principle of the common law cannot be overthrown by an adjudication of the court so as to bind another court in any subsequent adjudication. Only by the enactment of a statute can the common law be abol- ished or modified. By pointing out to the writer and the ■'publisher clfearly the limits of their privilege and the extent of their liability, not only will the writer and publisher themselves be protected, but the public will also be protected. A further security to the public may be found in the knowledge given of the nature and extent of the remedy in case of libel. As ignorance of the law is no excuse for its violation, it is only fair that the law should be clearly stated in a form accessible to all. Principles of law resting in precedents and adjudications can be ascertained only by the examination of a great many cases and by a course of reasoning which in the nature of things can be pursued and understood only by lawyers who have laboriously ISO SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. examined into the matter. To the public such knowledge is a sealed book. Only by distinct and explicit statutes can it be placed within the reach of all. Paragraph 2, — Libel Ought to Be Defined. It would seem that after five hundred years of adjudication and legislation a settled and accepted definition of libel ought to have been agreed upon. A comparison of the accompanyingf statutes will show the most remarkable disagreement in this regard existing in the United States. The statutes of Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho,, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Penn- sylvania, Utah and Wyoming substantially agree upon the follow- ing definition of libel, viz. : A libel is a malicious defamation, expressed either by printing, or by signs or pictures, or the like, tending to blacken the memory of one who is dead, or to impeach the honesty, integrity, virtue or reputation or pub- lish the natural defects of one who is alive, and thereby to expose him to public hatred, contempt, ridicule, or financial injury. In Iowa, Kansas, Maine,. Mississippi, Tennessee and Washing- ington, language which " tends to provoke a person to wrath " is included in the definition. In New York the definition is extended to include corporations, and in Texas corporations cannot be libeled. The statutes of Virginia and West Virginia, while not defining libel in terms, enact that " all words which, from their usual con- " struction and common acceptation, are construed as insults and " tend to violence and breach of the peace, shall be actionable." In Texas any malicious statement affecting the reputation of another is defined as libel. In the Civil Codes of California and North Dakota and South Dakota only " false aud unprivileged publications " are libels. In the statutes of the following States and Territories nothing in the semblance of a definition of libel appears, viz. : Alabama, Delaware, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont and Wisconsin. An examination of the decisions of the courts of the several states discloses wide differences in defining libel where the stat- utes are silent. In some states the old common law is closely followed, while in others it has been relaxed by disuse and com- mon consent. SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. 151 Under such a state of facts is it surprising that the law of libel in the United States is a chaos ? Paragraph 3.— Privileged Publications. Next in importance to the definition of libel itself is a clear statement or definition of privileged publications. A large num- ber of communications and publications are from the nature of the occasion upon which they are published, or from the nature of the communication and publication themselves, entitled to priv- ilege. In all classes of publications in which the community are interested, or which are peculiarly for the benefit of the com- munity, the publisher is charged with a duty, and ought not to be - punished for libel except upon the proof of actual malice. The statutes of California, Dakota and Georgia contain definitions of privileged communications and publications. In many of the states of the Union certain classes of publications are denominated privileged, but in none do the statutory definitions of privileged communications extend to the full scope of the public interest. By agreement of the best authorities the following communications and publications are held to be privileged and ought not to be the ' basis of any action or proceeding for libel or slander without proof of actual malice, which ought not to be presumed from the mere fact of publication. First. — Statements made in the proper discharge of a public or official duty. Second. — Statements made in any legislative or judicial proceeding, or in any other official proceeding authorized by law. Third.' — A fair and true report of a judicial, legislative or other official proceeding, or of anything said in the course thereof. Fourth. — Statements made in a communication without malice to a' person interested therein by one who is also interested, or by one who stands in such a relation to the person interested as to afford a reasonable ground for supposing the motive for the communication innocent, or who is requested by the person interested to give the information. Fifth. — Statements made in the full belief that they are true, with the bona fide intent on the part of the person making them to protect his own interest in a matter where it is concerned. Sixth — Reasonable and fair comment and criticism upon matters of public concern, the publication of which is for the public benefit. Seventh. — Fair comment honestly made in the belief of its truth, and upon reasonable grounds for such belief, upon the conduct of a person 1 52 SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. in respect of public affairs, or upon a thing which the proprietor thereof offers or explains to the public. Paragraph 4. — The Plea of Not Guilty should join issue upon the whole matter and not upon the mere fact of publication. Under the common law and founded upon the fiction that the tendency to produce a breach of the peace was the gist of the action of libel, a plea of not guilty put in issue only the fact of publication. It did not put in issue the question of malice nor any other material allegation. Fox's Act in 1792 abolished this rule in England, and declared that the jury may give a general verdict of guilty or not guilty upon the whole matter put in issue upon the indictment or infor-. mation. and shall not be required or directed by the court or judge to find the defendant guilty merely on proof of the publica- tion by the defendant of the paper charged to be a libel. This act is the Magna Charta of the free press in England, but it has no force in the United States, because enacted subsequent to the time when the common law was adopted in this country. The old rule of the common law with varying degrees of vitality is in force in many of the states. No other amendment can be suggested which will so effectually by a single stroke wipe away the obstructions to a meritorious defense and put the trial of an action of libel upon the plane of modern jurisprudence as the adoption of a provision that the plea of not guilty shall put in issue every material and necessary allegation of the indictment or complaint. It is a just reproach to the lawyers and journal- ists of this counti^y that they have clung to despotic rules, hatched in the Star Chamber for the suppression gf public discussion, for a century after England and her colonies have abandoned them. Paragraph 5.— Justification. The truth published with good motives and for justifiable ends Ought to be a complete defense in all proceedings, civil and criminal, in both libel and slander. The principle was laid down by Alexander Hamilton in the case of People against Croswell, tried in the Supreme Court of New York, in February, 1804, that " Nothing is a libel which is written and published from good " motives and for justifiable ends ; and to show this, the truth of " the fact charged as libelous may be given in evidence, and this " whether against public measures, public officers or private SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. 153 *' citizens.'' The decision in the Croswell case was adverse to this principle, but that trial led to the passage of a declaratory act by the Legislature of New York permitting the introduction of truth in evidence in all criminal libel cases. The principle took definite form in the Constitution of New York of 1821, in the fol- lowing language: " In all prosecutions or indictments for libel the " truth may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it shall appear ■" to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true and was " published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the parties " shall be acquitted." Substantially this form of statement has been followed in the laws of Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Utah, Wash- ington and Wisconsin. In Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Illinois, Nebraska, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, North Dakota, South, Dakota, Wyoming and West Virginia, the truth when published with good motives and for justifiable ends is admissible in evidence in all trials, civil or criminal. In Tennessee, Vermont and Maryland the truth in justification may be introduced in evidence under the general issue. In Georgia, North Carolina, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma and Vermont the truth may be introduced in all cases without refer- ence to the motives or the purposes of the publication. In Kentucky, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, the truth of publication in investigation of the official conduct of officers or men in public capacity may be introduced in evidence without proof of rnotive or purposes of publica- tion. In Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island the truth is a suffi- cient justification in all actions and prosecutions for libel, unless malicious intention is proved. In California and the Dakotas in civil cases libel is limited to "false and unprivileged publications," thus putting in issue the truth of the article by a plea of not guilty. I am not prepared to recommend that the truth without refer- ence to the motives or the ends of the publication should be a justification. The publication of the truth is not always wise nor for the public benefit. It may do a great personal injury without any corresponding public good. The true foundation of the right to publish is that it protects the people and is for the public good. When that reason fajls there is no excuse for a personal injury. It would open the door for blackmail and malice. The rule which 154 SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. limits justification to the trutli when published with good motives and for justifiable ends is the proper one. Paragraph 6. — Truth provable by preponderance of evidence. When the truth of a publication is the fact in issue the statute should provide that the truth may be proved by a preponderance of the evidence. Under the common law rule a plea of justification must be stated with all the certainty of an indictment, and it must be supported by the degree of proof necessary to establish an indictment. In other words, that defence cannot be established except by proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The statutes of Illi- nois contain the following commendable provision : " In actions ^' for slander or libel, the defendant may establish the truth of the mat- '' ter charged by a preponderance of the testimony, and an unproved " allegation of the truth of the matter charged shall not be deemed proof " of malice unless the jury on the whole case find that such defense was " made with malicious intent." Paragraph 7.— Punitive Damages. One of the most fertile sources of speculative litigation is found in the doctrine of punitive damages. Under the practice by which a defendant who has been guilty of negligence or malice in a pub- lication may be punished by a judgment for vindictive or punitive damages and that judgment collected for the benefit of the plaint- iff, a great encouragment is held out to litigation. The doctrine of punitive damages in civil cases is false in theory and pernicious in practice. To mix the supposed interests of society with those of an individual in the pursuit of purely private redress for a private injury is inconsistent with the nature of the proceeding and is subject to great abuses. The late Judge McAllister, in Holmes vs. Holmes, 64 111., 297, made the following comment on this subject : " The principle of the rule allowing exemplary, vindictive "or punitory damages, as they are called, has been severely " questioned by many very able jurists, among whom was Professor " Greenleaf, upon whose sturdy, accurate, profound intellect and -" wonderful legal attainments it is unnecessary to pass any enco- " miums. In his definition of damages, and upon which it would " be difficult to improve, there is little countenance to the doctrine " of punitory damages. He says : ' Damages are given as a " ' compensation, recompense or satisfaction to the plaintiff, for an " ' injury actually received by him from the defendant. They SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. 1 55 " ' should be precisely commensurate with the injury, neither " ' more nor less.' 2 Greenlf Ev., sec. 253, and note 2." The doctrine of punitive damages is so thoroughly engrafted upon our jurisprudence that it can be overthrown only by express statutory enactments. The reason upon which punitive damages rest is that a punishment ought to be inflicted upon a defendant who is shown to be malicious or grossly negligent. It is in the nature of a fine imposed by reason of the violation of a law. No good reason exists for that fine resulting to the benefit of the plaintiff. It should properly be paid into the public treasury, and the recovery in civil cases should be limited to actual damages. A large part of the libel litigation would be prevented by a pro- vision limiting the recovery in civil cases to actual damages. A suggestion might be made that the plaintiff be required to state in his declaration the amount of actual damages claimed, and the amount of punitive damages claimed. This would simplify trials and would confine juries within narrower limits, and might be beneficial in its results. Paragraph 8.— Retraction. Another safeguard against blackmailing and speculative suits for libel may be found in a provision requiring a demand to be served upon the publisher for a correction or retraction before a suit for libel can be brought. This will afford an opportunity for retraction. The statutes of Connecticut, Michigan and Minnesota contain provisions which limit the recovery of the plaintiff to ac- tual damages in cases where the publication was made without malice in fact, and the defendant, upon request, has made a full and fair retraction. The statutes of England contain similar pro- visions. A section in the following terms, which closely follows the statute of Minnesota, is believed to be a valuable safeguard against some existing evils : Before any suit for libel shall be brought for the publicat on of an article in any newspaper in this state, the aggrieved party shall, at least five days before beginning suit, serve notice in writing on the publisher or publishers of said newspaper, at their principal office of publication, specifying the statements in the said article which he or they allege to be false and defamatory, and if it shall appear on the trial of said action that said article was published in good faith, that its falsity was due to mistake and misapprehension, and that a full and fair correction or re- traction of any false statement therein was published in the next regular issue of said newspaper, or in case of daily newspapers within five days after service of said notice as aforesaid, in as conspicuous a place and 156 SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. iype in said newspaper as was the article complained of , then the plaintiff in such case shall recover only actual damages. This does not limit the recovery of actual damages. It only prevents the recovery of punitive damages where the publication was without malice and the publisher in good faith does what he can to repair the injury. Paragraph 9. — Mitigating Circumstances. Another important field for amendment is in the proof of mit- igating circumstances. Many of the states of the Union have provisions authorizing the proof of certain circumstances in mit- igation of damages. There is no agreement in these statutes. In some states such proof is admissible under the general issue, in others it is admissible by notice under the general issue, and in still others it must be specially pleaded. Anything which goes to the proof of intention and motive under which the publication was made, or the good faith of the publisher, or which tends to reduce the damages, ought to be admissible in evidence in mitigation of damages. The following section is suggested : At the trial of an action for slander or libel, the defendant may give in evidence, under the general issue in mitigation of damages, the general character of the plaintiff ; the truth of the ■words complained of ; the circumstances, intention and motives under which they were spoken or published ; any apology, cor- rection or retraction of the article complained of or the words spoken, whether made or published before or after suit brought ; or that the plaintiff has already recovered or-has brought actions to recover damages, or has received or agreed to receive compensa- tion for a libel or libels to the same or substantially the same purport or eff'ect as the libel for which such action has been brought ; or that the writing or words complained of were the repetition of common report, and that the conduct of the plain- tiff was such as to create suspicion of the truth of the matters therein charged against him. Under the law in many states a suit may be brought without notice, and while the defendant is in ignorance of any mistake or injury contained in a publication. Any apology made after the suit has been brought cannot be introduced in evidence in. most of the states. The plaintiff may bring suit against a great many newspapers and claim against each the full amount of his dam- ages. The evidence of other suits or of other recoveries by the plaintiff cannot be introduced in evidence, thus enabling the plain- SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. 1 5/ tiff to make a manifold recovery for the same injury. The pro- visions of the foregoing section making proof of a retraction after suit brought competent evidence, and authorizing the introduction of proof of other claims and suits and recoveries by the plaintiff, may be found in English statutes. Paragraph lo. — Presumption of Malice may be Rebutted. It has been held in many cases that where an article is per se libelous that the malice inferred cannot be rebutted by proof. It is hard to imagine any justification for such provision under the present conditions of society. The following provision, taken from the statutes of Georgia, is recommended : " In all actions for slander or libel, malice inferred from the " character of the charge m.ay be rebutted by proof, which shall " in all cases go in mitigation of damages, and in cases of ^^ privileged communications and publications shall be in bar of a " recovery" Paragraph ii. — Simple Pleadings Recommended. Amendments which shall simplify pleadings and do away with the complex forms of the common law will greatly simplify rem- edies and protect the public. The law ought to afford the swiftest and most complete remedy possible, at the same time ex- tending to the defendant every opportunity to interpose a meri- torious defense. Anything which restricts, hinders or complicates the remedy for a wrong is in itself and to that extent a denial of justice. Aiiything which shuts out a defense which in equity and good conscience ought to be interposed, is equally unjust. The statutes of a large number of the states have provisions fixing the forms of complaints and of pleas in actions .for libel and slander. The practice in the several states varies so greatly that it is impossible to prescribe any form which will fit all codes. An examination of the accompanying statutes will enable the legislator to find satisfactory precedents under almost any system. Paragraph 12.— Costs and Security for Costs. The only state which has statutory provisions for special security for costs in actions for libel or slander, is California. A bond in the sum of $500, with two sufficient sureties, is required 158 SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. in that state, conditioned that if the action is dismissed or the defendant recovers judgment, that the plaintiff will pay all costs and charges awarded against the plaintiff by judgment, or in the progress of the action, and also providing in such case that the defendant recover a judgment of $100 to cover counsel fees in addition to the other costs. By the provisions of a bill recently introduced by Attorney- General Casgrain, in the Legislature of Quebec, in any action for libel against a newspaper, the defendant upon showing by affidavit that the plaintiff is not possessed of property sufificient to answer to the costs of the action in case of judgment in favor of the defendant, and that the defendant has a good defense upon the merits, and that the statements complained of were published in good faith, or that the grounds of the action are trivial and frivolous, the court may order the plaintiff to give security for costs. The matter of costs is so closely blended with the practice acts of the several states, that any statutory provision must be made with reference to such practice. In an action of libel where the article complained of is defamatory upon its face, the plaintiff has so little to prove in order to establish a prima facie case, and the burden is so easily thrown upon the defendant, the temptation to institute trivial or frivolous suits is very great. It is believed that some such provision as that embodied in the bill of Attorney- General*Casgrain might be adopted with advantage. Paragraph 13. — Consolidation of Actions. By the English statute of 1888 a provision was incorporated into the law of England by which actions brought by a plaintiff upon the same or substantially the same libel, may be consolidated so that they shall be tried together, and after the consolidation of two or more actions, other defendants against whom actions for the same or substantially the same libel shall be brought may be joined. In such consolidated actions the jury is authorized to assess the whole amount of damages, if any, in one sum, but a separate verdict shall be taken for or against each defendant in the same way as if the consolidated actions had been tried sepa- rately, and the damages if found against 'one or more of the de- fendants shall be apportioned among such defendants by the jury. A series of actions may be brought against different news- papers for the same libel, which has been received by them from a Press Association and published in the regular course of busi- SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. 1 59 ness. Under the law as it exists in the United States and as it existed in England prior to the acts of 1888, the plaintiff was entitled to recover the full measure of his damages against each one of the newspapers sued. This fact serves as a great encour. agement to litigation. Tyndale Palmer, a broker who negotiated the sale of certain patents in Brazil, has brought suit against more than one hundred newspapers in the United States upon a dispatch published in the Philadelphia Times and sent out throughout the United States by the United Press. Each defendant is liable for whatever damages the plaintiff may recover in the action, and by this means the plaintiff may recover enormous damages for what is really the same libel. , Paragraph 14. — Place of Trial. Under the law in most the states of the Union, an indictment for libel will lie against a publisher of a newspaper in every county in which the newspaper circulates. A civil action may generally be brought in any county in which the publisher may be found or in which service can be had upon the publisher. In that way a large number of indictments may be brought against the publisher of a newspaper for a single publication against a single plaintiff. Under the terms of the Constitution of California, indictments must be found for publications in newspapers in the county where such newspapers have their publication office, or in the county where the party alleged to be libelled resides at the time of the alleged publication. A similar provision is to be found in the statutes of New York, New Jersey, Michigan and Kentucky. The New York statute contains an additional provision that where the action or indictment is found in the county where the person libelled resided when the offense was committed, the defendant is entitled to an order of the Supreme Court directing the indict- ment against him to be tried in the county in which the paper was printed and published upon compliance with the following conditions : " First. — He must apply for the order within thirty days " after being committed or giving bail to answer to the indict- " ment. " Second. — He must execute a bond to the complainants, " with two sufficient sur^eties approved by the judge hearing " his application, in a penal sum fixed by the judge, not less " than $250 nor more than $1,000, conditioned for the pay l6o SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. " ment, in case the defendant is convicted, of all the com- " plainanCs reasonable expenses in going to and from his place " of residence and the place 'of trial and in attendance upon " the trial. " Third. — He must within ten days after the granting of the order, file the order and deposit the bond with the clerk of the county in which the indictment is pending.'^ A similar provision authorizes the change of venue in civil actions to the county in which the publication was printed. Paragraph 15.— Giving False Information, Punishable. A valuable provision may be found in the statutes of Pennsyl- vania and New York, making it a misdemeanor to give false infor- mation to a newspaper or other publication. The following section expresses the substance of that provision of the Pennsylvania statute : Any person who wilfully states, delivers or transmits by any means whatever to the manager, editor, publisher or reporter of any newspaper, magazine, publication, periodical or serial, for publication therein, any false or libelous statement concerning any person or corporation, and thereby secures the actual publication of the same, is hereby declared guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding $500, or confined in ' the county jail not exceeding one year or both. Paragraph 16. — Report of Public Official Proceedings Privileged. The following provision making the publication of a true report of public official proceedings privileged, is to be found in substantially the following form in the statutes of New York, Min- nesota, Idaho, Dakota, California, Arizona, Utah and Oklahoma ; No action, civil or criminal, for libel, shall be maintained against a reporter, writer, editor, publisher or proprietor of a newspaper for a publication therein of a fair and true report of any judicial, legislative or other public and official proceedings, or of any statement, speech, ar'gumentor debate in the course of the same, without proving actual malice in making the report^ which will not be presumed from the mere fact of publication. SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. ' l6l The last section does not apply to a libel contained in the heading of the report or in any other matter added thereto, or in a report of anything said or done at the time and place of the public and official proceeding, which was not a part thereof. The purpose of the foregoing is on the one hand to protect the publication of such matters as the community are entitled to know for its own welfare and protection, and on the other hand to draw the line distinctly between " a fair and true report " and a false, garbled or distorted report. Paragraph 17.— True and Fair Report of Public Meetings Privileged. Another valuable provision introduced into the law of libel by the English Act of 1888, is the section making a true and fair report of the proceedings of a public meeting privileged. The following provision suggested by that law is a valuable amend- ment : A fair and true report published in a newspaper of the pro- ceedings of a public meeting shall be privileged unless it shall be proved that such report was published with actual malice, pro- vided that nothing in this section contained shall be deemed or construed to lim.it or abridge any privilege now by law existing, or to protect the publication of any matter not of public concern, or the publication of which is not for the public benefit, and pro- vided also that the protection afforded by this section shall not be available as a defense in any proceedings if it , shall be proved that the defendant has been requested to insert in the newspaper in which the report or other publication complained of appeared, a reasonable letter or statement by way of contradiction or ex- planation of such report or other publication, and has refused or neglected to insert the same. For the purposes of this section "■public meeting " shall mean any meeting bona fide and lawfully held for a lawful purpose and for the furtherance or discussion of any matter of public concern, whether the admission thereto'be general or restricted. In order to establish privilege for the publication under the foregoing section, it will be necessary to prove that the report is accurate and fair, that the meeting was for a lawful purpose, for the furtherance or discussion of a matter of public concern and l62 ' SUGGESTIONS OF AMENDMENT. was held in good faith for such purposes. It must be proved also that the publication of the matter complained of is for the public benefit and is of public concern. Paragraph i8.— Limitations. The period of limitation upon actions of libel varies in the different states from one to six years. A newspaper of general circulation published in New York City finds itself subject to a limitation of one year in Pennsylvania, two years in New York and New Jersey, three years in Connecticut and six years in Rhode Island. A limitation of two years is ample.