deposit to secure the debt and costs. The PART I. CAP. II. person arrested, however, may apply to the Court or Judge for a discharge, which will be granted if he satisfies the Court or Judge that he has not nor ever had an intention of leaving England. Yet, notwithstanding the discharge, the party procuring the arrest will not be liable to an action, if the order for the arrest was fairly obtained. But if the plaintiff has imposed on the judge, by a suggestio falsi or a suppressio veri, the defendant may bring an action against the plaintiff for a malicious arrest. (Add. Torts,433-4; Broom Com. 712-3; 1 & 2 Vic. c. 110, s. 3.) Any individual is authorised to confine Confining a a person of unsound mind, who appears likely to do harm to himself or to any other person. (Add. Torts, 408.) person of unsound mind. damages. The Court never interferes with the dis- Amount of cretion of the jury as to the amount of damages for an assault and false imprisonment, unless they are grossly excessive, or clearly founded on a mistaken or improper view of the matter. Any circumstances of aggravation on the one hand, and any circumstances of extenuation, not pleadable as a defence, on the other hand, ought to be taken into account, to increase or lessen the damages. (Add. Torts, 429; Mayne, 263.) CAP. III. CHAPTER III. OF SECURITY TO CHARACTER AND REPUTATION. PART I. ONE of the most precious rights concerning the person, is that of security to character and reputation. This may be injuriously Defamation. affected by defamation, which is of two kinds; namely, libel and oral slander. Libel defined. Distinction in effect of verbal and written slander. SECTION I. Of Libel or Written Slander. Libel is a slander in writing, or in print, or by pictorial or other representation. (Wharton; Starkie on Libel, Introd.; Selw. N. P. 1049.) Libel is deemed a greater injury than oral slander, inasmuch as oral slander is sudden and fleeting, whereas libel is deliberate, permanent, and in general propagated farther. Hence, a vague imputation of dishonesty, if oral, is not actionable, unless the imputation had reference to the business of the person defamed, and had the effect of damaging him in it. But such an imputation, if published in writing or in print, even without reference to his business, and without proof of any evil resulting from it, is actionable. (Add. Torts, 576; Selw. N. P. 1049.) PART I. CAP. III. SEC. I. A person libelled will not be entitled to Publication. an action, unless the libel be published. But parting with a libellous print or writing in order that it may become known, or the making a libel known to any third person, amounts to a publication. (Broom Com. 719, 729, 730; Selw. N. P. 1062.) printed or written pub lications are libellous. All written or printed publications which what tend to prejudice the private character or credit of another, or to render a person ridiculous or contemptible, or to cause him to be hated, feared, or avoided, or to injure him in his business, are libellous; and an action for damages is maintainable against the writer and publisher, unless the publication is a privileged communication, or the libeller can prove the truth of the libel. (Add. Torts, 578-9; Broom Com. 718-9; 3 Ste. Com. 465-8; Selw. N. P. 1049.) Malice is the gist of an action for libel or Malice. PART I. slander. The word malice, however, is not CAP. III. SEC. I. used in the popular sense of ill-will, but in the legal sense of the intentional doing of a wrongful act; and unless the injurious communication is privileged, the law implies malice in the legal sense, and though evidence of malice may be given to increase the damages, it is never deemed necessary. In the case of what would otherwise be a privileged communication, actual malice must be proved, in order to support an action. (Add. Torts, 580; Selw. N. P. 1049, 1054, 1062; Roscoe on Evid. 567.) Privileged Where a communication is fairly made, in the discharge of some legal or moral duty, or for the necessary protection or investigation of an interest, or upon some other reasonable occasion or exigency, in the belief of its truth, and without actual malice, it is privileged. (Add. Torts, 580-1, 587-8; Broom Com. 719-21, 724; 3 Ste. Com. 463, 466; Roscoe on Evid. 570, 574.) communications. Letters by a clergyman. Defamatory letters written and published by a minister of religion, even though under the strongest sense of duty, are not privileged. (Add. Torts, 584.) Depositions or statements in the course of But the PART I. CAP. III. SEC. I. matter in the judicial proceedings. memorials a judicial proceeding before a court of competent jurisdiction are privileged. libeller may be punished by a prosecution Defamatory for perjury. (Add. Torts, 581; Roscoe on course of Evid. 571.) Petitions and memorials to the proper Petitions and authorities, complaining of the serious mis- complaining conduct of magistrates and public officers duct of public and officers of the army or navy, and containing statements honestly believed to be true, are privileged communications. (Add. Torts, 582; Roscoe on Evid. 571.) of the con aries. bishop. Letters imputing grave misconduct to Letters to a clergymen, addressed to the bishop of the diocese, are privileged, if sent bona fide for the purpose of obtaining an enquiry into the matter by the bishop. (Add. Torts, 585; Selw. N.P. 585.) tions be friends. legal pro If a confidential communication is honestly Communicamade between relatives or friends, purely to tweed prevent an injury, it is privileged. (Add. Torts, 585-6; Roscoe on Evid. 567, 571-2.) In some instances, the reports of legal Reports of proceedings have been held to be actionable; ceedings. as in the case of statements of counsel unsupported by evidence, or untrue, unfair, or exaggerated accounts, published after a trial is concluded, or disparaging com |