Huffer v. Miller

Briscoe, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This is an action of slander brought by the appellee against the appellant in the Circuit Court for Washington County. The case was tried on the plea of non cul. The declaration contained three counts.

The first and second were demurred to, and the demurrer was overruled. The third count was admitted to be sufficient. The defamatory words alleged in the first count to have been spoken were these: — “He (the plaintiff) swore to dam lies before Justice Bitner, and that was the reason he (the plaintiff) was acquitted, ” meaning thereby that the plaintiff had committed perjury as a witness before Justice J. Irvin Bitner, a Justice of the Peace of the State of Maryland in and for Washington County when examined before the said justice as a witness. The second count is substantially in the same words, and whaf is said of the first will equally apply to the second.

The objection to the sufficiency of these counts is based upon the statement that the declaration does not set forth in the colloquium that the words were spoken of the plaintiff in connection with his testimony at the trial before the justice, and that the words are not actionable per se. We do not deem it necessary to discuss the question of the sufficiency of these counts, because the judgment below would not be reversed, even if they were ⁴⁵⁷ defective. The third count in the declaration is admitted to he good, and a judgment will not he reversed for any defect in