50 Ind. 129 | Ind. | 1875
This was an action by the appellee against the appellant, for slander, and the only question which we need to consider is the sufficiency of the complaint. After the caption, it is as follows :
“John Adams, plaintiff, complains of Abijah Dorsett, defendant, and says, that heretofore, to wit, on the-day of-, 1871, a certain civil suit was begun, pending, and tried before one Shinn, an acting and duly commissioned and qualified justice of the peace in and for the township of Floyd,
Three objections are urged against the complaint:
1. Because it does not show or allege that the justice had jurisdiction.
2. Because it does not allege that the plaintiff was sworn to testify.
3. Because the complaint does not allege or show that the matter about which the charge of false swearing was made was material to the issue.
According to Cummins v. Butler, 3 Blackf. 190, the first and second of these objections are well taken. But according to Whitsel v. Lennen, 13 Ind. 535, and Wilson v. Harding, 2 Blackf. 241, the third objection is not well taken.
The judgment is reversed, with costs, and the cause remanded, with instructions to sustain the demurrer to the complaint.