8 Pa. 237 | Pa. | 1848
This cause seems to have been treated as an action of slander, to which it bears some resemblance. The declaration charges a conspiracy to defame the plaintiff, by speaking scandalous words of him, and by libelling him; in supjDort of which, he gave evidence of words, as overt acts, which would not be actionable if spoken without preconcert; and also of a written publication of the same words, which was distinctly libellous. But it is a rule, that where a libeller may be prosecuted by indictment, he may be prosecuted by action, though the words would not have been actionable had they not been written. The reason is, that a libel, diffused far and wide as it may be by the power of the press, has a violent tendency to destroy the reputation of him who has the misfortune to be the subject of it; and as damage is implied from it as a legal and natural consequence of an aggravated wrong,
Judgment reversed, and a venire de novo awarded.