if true,
would render him unworthy of confidence or employment; or it is the
maliciously charging of another with anything by which he sustains
special injury. The slander of a person by words spoken, is a civil
injury, that is, an injury for which redress is to be obtained in a
civil suit for damages.

Sec.8. A slander written or printed, is called _libel_. A libel is a
malicious publication in print or writing, signs or pictures, tending to
expose a person to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule. And it is
considered in law a publication of such defamatory writing, though
communicated to a single person. A slander written or printed is likely
to have a wider circulation, to make a deeper impression, and to become
more injurious. A person may therefore be liable in damages for words in
print or writing, for which he would not be liable if merely spoken. In
case of libel, a person is not only liable to a private suit for
damages, but may be indicted and tried as for other public offenses.

Sec.9. It is a principle of English common law, that in a criminal action
for libel it is immaterial whether the matter of it is true or false;
and a person prosecuted for libel is not allowed, in justification, to
prove to the jury the truth of his statement, since the provocation, not
the falsity, is to be punished. And, whether true or false, the libelous
publication is equally dangerous to the public peace, and is presumed to
have been made with malicious intent.

Sec.10. It is held--and perhaps it is the prevailing opinion--that in a
civil action for damages, a libel must be false as well as scandalous,
and, consequently, that the truth may be pleaded in justification. This
point, however, is not fully settled. The reason for this distinction
between cases of public and private prosecution, it is not easy to
perceive. If it is just to inquire into the good or bad intentions of
the publisher in one case, it would seem to be equally so in the other.

Sec.11. But the common law has been materially modified and relaxed in this
country. In most of the states it is provided by their constitutions or
by law, that the truth may be given in evidence, and if it shall appear
to the jury "that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was
published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be
acquitted." As it may sometimes be proper to speak or publish an
unfavorable truth concerning others, the principle of the above