46 Iowa 533 | Iowa | 1877
The court instructed the jury as follows:
“ 8. It will not be sufficient to sustain the truth of the charge that the cattle had been drinking or been watered within twelve hours next preceding the weighing, which had not been disclosed to Norris & Lehman, but it must appear to you that the plaintiff caused them to be'watered with the design of increasing their weight; that the cattle or some of them drank so as to materially and substantially increase the weight of the lot sold, and that within twelve hours thereafter he weighed them out to Norris & Lehman without informing them that they had been watered, who accepted them in ignorance of the fact, with the understanding that they had not been watered. It was not necessary that all of the cattle had been watered or driven to water, provided a sufficient number of them were watered and drank to substantially and materially increase the weight of the lot or herd sold.”
It is urged by counsel for appellant that this instruction is erroneous, because it holds that to sustain the- truth of the charge the defendant was not' bound to prove all the cattle were watered within twelve hours preceding the weighing.
.’ It is well settled that when'the truth of an alleged slander is relied upon as a defense, if the charge impute a crime to the plaintiff, it is incumbent upon the defendant to proye the truth of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt. He is re: qnii;ed .to establish the truth of the words spoken by such evidence as would justify the jury in finding the plaintiff guilty of the crime upon a trial therefor. Fountain v. West, 23 Iowa, 10.
-, The'..crime imputed-by the words spoken in this case was cheating by false pretenses. The charge was that plaintiff
II. It is alleged in the answer that the defendant spoke the words, not with -malice, but for good'and justifiable purposes, as he had a right to do.
■ In stating the issues to the jury, the court, in its instructions, said: “The defendant further answers that the speaking of the words was for justifiable purposes, without malice; that is, that he had good reason to believe the words to be true, and did believe them to be true, and spoke the words for the purpose of protecting ■ the persons addressed,-or the people at large, from the plaintiff’s supposed dishonesty. * * * * ” No exception is taken to this part of the charge by the court. It appears therefrom that defendant not only relied upon the truth of the charges as a defense, but that he also pleaded that the words spoken were privileged communications.
The court instructed the jury upon this branch of the case as follows:
“ 10. The defendant has alleged in his answer that the speaking and publishing was for justifiable purposes, and under this issue you are directed that to justify the speaking he must have believed the charge, and have good and reasonable cause to so believe, as an ordinary careful and prudent man. He must have spoken the words without malice, and for the purpose of protecting the party to whom they were addressed, or the public, from the plaintiff’s supposed dishonesty. If
Now, if-the words were spoken by defendant.without malice, in good faith, believing them to be true, and having reasonable cause as a prudent, careful man to so believe, and with the honest purpose of protecting the public from plaintiff’s supposed dishonesty, the defendant is not liable. Under these circumstances, the words spoken are privileged communications. Townsend on Slander and Libel, Sec. 247, and authorities cited in notes. American Leading Cases, Yol. 1, p. 176.
III. The only other en-or assigned is that the verdict is contrary to the evidence.
The most that can be claimed is that there is a conflict in the evidence upon the main question of fact as to whether the cattle were watered within twelve hours of weighing, by direction of. the plaintiff. This conflict was for the jury to reconcile, and we are not prepared to say that their verdict was the result of passion or prejudice, or that it was other than a fair determination of the case under the evidence.
Affirmed.