FALSEHOOD PERJURY is committed when a witness swears to what he knows not to be true. It is a general rule that if a witness testifies falsely as to any material fact the whole of his testimony may be rejected, but still the jury may consider whether the wrong statement is of such character as to entitle the witness to be believed in other respects.
FALSE OR FRAUDULENT STATEMENT A statement related to a material fact and known to be untrue or made with reckless indifference as to its truth or falsity. A statement or representation may also be false or fraudulent when it constitutes a half truth, or effectively conceals a material fact.EMOTIONAL DISTRESS 'Damages for emotional distress have been permitted only where there is some means for assuring the validity of the claim. The case law reveals a diversity of circumstances in which recovery for emotional distress may be had. They are loosely linked in the sense that in each it could be said that a particular form of mental suffering naturally ensued from the acts constituting the invasion of another kind of protected interest. 'The commonest example is probably where the plaintiff suffers personal injuries in addition to mental distress as a result of negligent or intentional misconduct by the defendant.' Pain and suffering is the natural concomitant of a personal injury. In the case of many torts, such as assault, battery, false imprisonment, and defamation, mental suffering will frequently constitute the principal element of damages.
In torts involving extreme and outrageous intentional invasions of mental and emotional tranquillity, the outrageous conduct affords the necessary assurance of the validity of the claim. Recovery also has been sanctioned for emotional distress which could be said naturally to ensue from an act which invaded an interest protected by an established tort. (See, Sloane v. Southern Cal. Ry. Co., 111 Cal. 668 [humiliation from wrongful ejection from train]; State Rubbish, etc. [intentional infliction of emotional distress]).
LIBEL Published material meeting three conditions: The material is defamatory either on its face or indirectly; The defamatory statement is about someone who is identifiable to one or more persons; and, The material must be distributed to someone other than the offended party; i.e. published; distinguished from slander.
There is perhaps no branch of the law which is so difficult to reduce to exact principles or to compress within a small compass as the requisites of a libel.In order to constitute a libel, it is not necessary that anything criminal should be imputed to the party injured; it is enough if the writer has exhibited him in a ludicrous point of view; has pointed him out as an object of ridicule or disgust; has, in short, done that which has a natural tendency to excite him to revenge.
If the matter be understood as scandalous and is calculated to excite ridicule or abhorrence against the party intended, it is libelous, however it may be expressed.
The malicious reading of a libel to one or more persons, it being for sale on the shelves in a bookstore; and where the defendant directed the libel to be printed, took away some and left others; these several acts have been held to be publications. The sale of each copy, where several copies have been sold, is a distinct publication and a fresh offence.
The publication must be malicious; evidence of the malice may be either express or implied. Express proof is not necessary for where a man publishes a writing which on the face of it is libelous, the law presumes he does so from that malicious intention which constitutes the offence and it is unnecessary for the prosecution to prove any circumstance from which malice may be inferred. But no allegation, however false and malicious, contained in answers to interrogatories, in affidavits duly made or any other proceedings, in courts of justice or petitions to the legislature, are indictable.
The publisher of a libel is liable to be punished criminally by indictment or is subject to an action on the case by the party grieved. Both remedies may be pursued at the same time.
Practice
A libel has been defined to be the plaintiff's petition or allegation, made and exhibited in a judicial process, with some solemnity of law;' it is also, said to be 'a short and well ordered writing, setting forth in a clear manner, as well to the judge as to the defendant, the plaintiff's or accuser's intention in judgment. It is a written statement by a plaintiff, of his cause of action and of the relief he seeks to obtain in a suit.The libel should be a narrative, specious, clear, direct, certain, not general, nor alternative. It should contain, substantially, the following requisites:
1. The name, description and addition of the plaintiff, who makes his demand by bringing his action.
2. The name, description and addition of the defendant.
3. The name of the judge with a respectful designation of his office and court.
4. The thing or relief, general or special, which is demanded in the suit.
5. The grounds upon which the suit is founded.
The form of a libel is either simple or articulate. The simple form is, when the cause of action is stated in a continuous narration, when the cause of action can be briefly set forth. The articulate form is when the cause of action is stated in distinct allegations or articles. The material facts should be stated in distinct articles in the libel, with as much exactness and attention to times and circumstances as in a declaration at common law. Pompous diction and strong epithets are out of place in a legal paper designed to obtain the admission of the opposite party of the averments it contains or to lay before the court the facts which the actor will prove.PERJURY When a person, having taken an oath before a competent tribunal, officer, or person, in any case in which a law of the U.S. authorizes an oath to be administered, that he will testify, declare, depose, or certify truly, or that any written testimony, declaration, deposition, or certificate by him subscribed, is true, willfully and contrary to such oath states or subscribes any material matter which he does not believe to be true; or in any declaration, certificate, verification, or statement under penalty of perjury, willfully subscribes as true any material matter which he does not believe to be true.
TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER - Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
SEDUCTION - The offence of a man who abuses the simplicity and confidence of a woman to obtain by false promises what she ought not to grant.SLANDER - A false defamation (expressed in spoken words, signs, or gestures) which injures the character or reputation of the person defamed; distinguished from libel. Actionable words are of two descriptions; first, those actionable in themselves, without proof of special damages and, secondly, those actionable only in respect of some actual consequential damages. Words of the first description must impute: - 1st. The guilt of some offence for which the party, if guilty, might be indicted and punished 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 pretended crime, it is actionable.
Though the law will not permit in these cases the inference of damage, yet when the damage has actually been sustained, the party aggrieved may support an action for the publication of an untruth unless the assertion be made for the assertion of a supposed claim. Action upon the case for Defamation but it lies if maliciously spoken. The charge must be false; the falsity of the accusation is to be implied till the contrary is shown.
The slander must, of course, be published, that is communicated to a third person; and if verbal, then in a language which he understands, otherwise the plaintiff's reputation is not impaired. A letter addressed to the party, containing libelous matter, is not sufficient to maintain a civil action, though it may subject the libeler to an indictment, as tending to a breach of the peace; the slander must be published respecting the plaintiff; a mother cannot maintain an action for calling her daughter a bastard. To render words actionable, they must be uttered without legal occasion. On some occasions it is justifiable to utter slander of another, in others it is excusable, provided it be uttered without express malice.
Malice is essential to the support of an action for slanderous words. But malice is in general to be presumed until the contrary be prove except in those cases where the occasion prima facie excuses the publication. SLANDERER A calumniator, who maliciously and without reason imputes a crime or fault to another, of which he is innocent. For this offence, when the slander is merely verbal, the remedy is an action on the case for damages; when it is reduced to writing or printing, it is a libel.
SURPRISE This term is frequently used in courts of equity and by writers on equity jurisprudence. It signifies the act by which a party who is entering into a contract is taken unawares, by which sudden confusion or perplexity is created, which renders it proper that a court of equity should relieve the party so surprised. The word surprise is a technical expression, and nearly synonymous with fraud. It is sometimes, used in this sense when it is deemed presumptive of, or approaching to fraud.
In practice, by surprise is understood that situation in which a party is placed, without any default of his own, which will be, injurious to his interest. The courts always do everything in their power to relieve a party from the effects of a surprise, when he has been diligent in endeavouring to avoid it.
SUSPICION A belief to the disadvantage of another, accompanied by a doubt. Without proof, suspicion, of itself, is evidence of nothing.
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