Newspapers
Newspapers, Criticisms, Priest
From the book The Clergyman’s Hand-book of Law, about Newspapers, Criticisms, Priest (1): A newspaper has a right to publish criticisms of the conduct of a priest in certain services held in his church if no false statement of facts is given, since such conduct is a proper subject of discussion; and if such article contains a statement that if certain published accounts of the conduct of the priest are true he acted in an improper manner, etc., it is not libelous because such facts are not true, as it is not an affirmation of the truth thereof. Where the alleged libel was published in a foreign language and the correctness of the translation was disputed, it was an error for the judge to instruct the jury that if the translation introduced in evidence was correct, the defendant was liable, since plaintiff’s right to recover should not be made to depend on the absolute accuracy of the translation.684
Resources
Notes and References
- Charles M. Scanlan, The Clergyman’s Hand-book of Law. The Law of Church and Grave (1909), Benziger Brothers, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago
See Also
- Religion
- Church