124 Ga. 714 | Ga. | 1906
■ (After stating the foregoing facts.) The' court: instructed the jury as follows: “The plajntiff alleges, by the use of said words he was turned out of the church, and dismissed as a.
■ It is quite clear, we think, that the exceptions to both of the charges above set out were well taken. “One licensed by an evangelical church to preach the gospel is a minister of the gospel, and, as such, is engaged in the work of a profession. . . . One who speaks words in -reference to a minister of the gospel, calculated to injure him in the profession which he- follows, is liable to be called to account for slander, even though it does not appear that any special damage resulted from the use of such words.” Flanders v. Daley, 120 Ga. 885, and cit.; Civil Code, §3837. The plaintiff put in evidence what purported to be a license issued February 28, 1888, by a presiding elder of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and in behalf of a quarterly conference of that church, authorizing the plaintiff “to preach the gospel;” also what purported to be a
Judgment reversed.