The defendant is liable, not because his intent
was evil, but because he made false charges without excuse.
It will be seen that the peril of conduct here begins farther
back than with deceit, as the tendency of slander is more
universally harmful. There must be some concomitant
circumstances. There must at least be a human being in existence
whom the statement designates. There must be another human being
within hearing who understands the statement, and the statement
must be false. But it is arguable that the latter of these facts
need not be known, as certainly the falsity of the charge need
not be, and that a man must take the risk of even an idle
statement being heard, unless he made it under known
circumstances of privilege. It would be no great curtailment of
freedom to deny a man immunity in attaching a charge of crime to
the name of his neighbor, even when he supposes himself alone.
But it does not seem clear that the law would go quite so far as
that.
The next form of liability is comparatively insignificant. I mean
the action for malicious prosecution. A man may recover damages
against another for maliciously and without probable cause
instituting a criminal, or, in some cases, a civil prosecution
against him upon a false charge.
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