SLANDER. In Torts. Words, spoken or written, which are injnrious to the charac ter of another.
2. The ground of all liability to an action for words spoken or written consists in 'in jury to character; and an action may be maintained in the following cases. To be actionable in themselves, the words when only spoken, not written, must be such as in their plain and popular sense convey to the minds of the hearers a charge of some of fence for which the plaintiff is amenable to the law, or of having some disease which will exclude him from society. Words which are not actionable in themselves be come so when they are spoken of a person in his profession, office, or trade, and necessarily or naturally tend to in,jure him therein. And any words defamatory or injurious in their nature, spoken of another, without legal justification, are actionable, if productive of special damage flowing naturally from the slander. The term "libel" is applied to written or printed slander. Heard, Libel St S. 8.
Verbal Slander. Actionable words are of two descriptions : first, those actIrmable in themselves, without proof of special damages , and, secondly, those actionable only in re spect of some actual consequential damages.
Words of the first description must impute- First, the guilt of some offence for which the party, if guilty, might be indicted and pun ished by the criminal courts: as, to call a person a "traitor," "thief," "highwayman," or to say that he is guilty of "perjury," "forgery," "murder," and the like. And although the imputation of guilt be general, without stating the particulars of the pre tended crime, it is actionable. Croke Jac. 114, 142 ; 6 Term, 674; 3 Wils. 186; 2 Ventr. 266 ; 5 Bos. & P. 335.
A very recent writer, after reviewing the authorities, concludes "that an action will lie for all words spoken of another which impute to bim the commission of a crime in volving moral turpitude and which is punish able by law." Heard, Libel ti S. 24. See 3 Serg. & R. Penn. 255 ; 7 id. 451; 10 id. 44;
8 Mass. 248; 13 Johns. N. Y. 124, 275 ; Starkie, Slander, 13-42.
3. Second, that the party has a disease or distemper which renders him unfit for society. Bacon, Abr. Slander (B 2). An action can, therefore, be sustained for calling a man a leper. Croke Jac. 144; Starkie, Slander, 67. Imputations of having at the present time the venereal disease or the gonorrhcea are actionable in themselves. 8 C. B. w. s. 9 ; 7 Gray, Mass. 181; 22 Barb. N. Y. 396; 2 Ind. 82; 2 Ga. 57. But charging another with having had a conta gious disease is not actionable, as he will not on that account be excluded from society. 2 Terra, 473, 474 ; 2 Strange, 1189; Bacon, Abr. Slander (B 2).
Third, unfitness in an officer, who holds an office to which profit or emolument is at tached, either in respect of morals or in a.bility to discharge the duties of the office: in such a case an action lies. 1 Salk. 695, 698 ; Rolle, Abr. 65; 2 Esp. 500 ; 4 Coke, 16 a.; 5 id. 125 ; 1 Strange, 617 ; 2 Ld. Raym. 1369 ; Buller, Nisi P. 4 ; Starkie, Slander, 100.
Fourth, the want of integrity or capacity, whether mental or pecuniary, in the conduct of a profession, trade, or business, in which tbe party is enga.gcd, is actionable, 1 Mal. Entr. 234: as, to accuse an attorney or artist of inability, inattention, or want of in tegrity, 3 Wils. 187; 2 W. Blackst. 750, or a clergyman of being a drunkard, 1 Binn. Penn. 178, is actionable. It is one ef tho general rules governing the action for words spoken, that words are actionable, when spoken of one in an office of profit, which have a natural tendency to occasion the loss of his office, or when spoken of persons touching their respective professions, trades, and business, and which have a natural tendency to their damage. The ground of action in these cases is tbat the party is disk graced or injured in his profession or trade, or exposed to the)hazard of losing his office.