Sesler v. Montgomery

Citations

• 3 Cal. Unrep. 27
• 19 P. 686
• 1888 Cal. LEXIS 991

Syllabus

<p>Slander—Communication by Husband to Wife—Publication.—¡ Communication by a husband to his wife of slanderous words in regard to a woman is a publication.</p> <p>Slander—Evidence.—In an Action for Slander, Where It is Shown That Defendant accused plaintiff of perjury and want of chastity, in a room where his wife was, in a voice loud enough- to be heard1 outside, there is sufficient evidence that she heard and understood the words.</p> <p>Slander—Privileged Communication—Husband and Wife.—Under Civil Code of California, section 47, providing that a privileged communication is one made without malice to a person interested therein, by one who is also interested, or by one who stands in such a relation to the person interested as to afford a reasonable ground for supposing the motive for the communication innocent, and section 48, providing that malice is not to be inferred from the mere fact of publication, a finding of the jury that a communication from a husband to his wife, with whom he was on bad terms, slanderous of a female acquaintance of hers, who had testified for her in divorce proceedings between her and her husband, was made with malice, and was not privileged, cannot be disturbed.</p> <p>Trial—Argument of Counsel—Failure to Introduce Evidence.— Under Code of Civil Procedure of California, section 2061, subdivision 6, providing that evidence is to be estimated, not only by its own intrinsic weight, but also according to the evidence which it is in the power of one side to produce and the other to contradict, comment to the jury upon the failure of defendant to introduce his wife to corroborate his own testimony is proper.1</p>