State v. Darwin

Citations

• 63 Wash. 303
• 115 P. 309
• 1911 Wash. LEXIS 1197

Syllabus

<p>Libel and Slander — Criminal Complaint — Demurrer — Conclusions. Upon demurrer to a complaint for criminal libel, tbe court must determine from tbe facts alleged whether the publication tended to expose the complainant to hatred, contempt or obloquy, or to injure him in his business, within Rem. & Bal. Code, § 2424, regardless of the conclusions of the pleader in that regard.</p> <p>Same — Sufficiency—Publication—Libelous Per Se — Truth. A complaint alleging the malicious publication in defendant’s newspaper of a list of conditional sales made by a furniture dealer to various patrons, as shown by memoranda legally filed by him in the auditor’s office two years previously, the truth of which was unquestioned, contains no words libelous per se, and does not charge criminal libel when it- fails to state facts showing that it tended to expose him to hatred, contempt, or obloquy, or to injure him in his business, within Rem. & Bal. Code, § 2424, defining criminal libel; and the conclusions of the pleader to that effect must be disregarded.</p> <p>Criminal Law — Complaint—Demurrer. A demurrer to a complaint for criminal libel only admits the facts alleged and not the pleader’s conclusions.</p>