een "deprived of the ordinances of the church"; that he was
"thought no more of than a horsethief and a counterfeiter"; that he had
infringed a patent; that he had been guilty of falsehood; of
"dishonesty"; or "moral obliquity"; of "smuggling"; of "blasphemy"; of
"false swearing"; that he was "insane"; that he was "fit for a lunatic
asylum and unsafe to go at large"; that he had been guilty of gross
misconduct in insulting females, etc. Where quotation marks are used,
they indicate the exact language used in the respective publications
complained of on which the suit was brought.

OBJECTIONABLE PUBLISHED CHARGES

The following published charges have been held to be objectionable,
namely:

Want of chastity (as applied to women, at all events) or adultery
(charged on either man or woman); the publication of the obituary of a
person known to the writer to be living; a charge that a member of
Congress was a "misrepresentative" and a groveling office-seeker; that a
juror agreed with another juror to rest the determination of the damages
in a case upon a game of checkers; characterizing a verdict of a jury as
"infamous" and charging the jurors with having done injustice to their
oaths; stating in the criticism of a book that the motives of the author
are dishonorable or disreputable.

The illustrations of this character might be multiplied indefinitely,
but these cover the general range of libelous expressions when
personally applied to an individual.

Imputations on character in allegory or irony may amount to a libel.

Imputing to a person the qualities of a frozen snake in the fable;
_heading_ an article in regard to a lawyer's sharp practices, "An Honest
Lawyer."

The general rule is that it is libelous _per se_ to impute to a person
in his official capacity, profession, trade or business any kind of
fraud, dishonesty, misconduct, incapacity or unfitness--any imputation,
in fact, which would _tend_ to prevent him deriving that pecuniary
reward from a _legitimate_ business which otherwise he would have
obtained.

It has been held actionable to publish of a _butcher_ that he used false
weights; of a _jeweler_ that he was a "cozening knave" who sold a
sapphire for a diamond; of a _brewer_ that he makes and sells
unwholesome beer or uses filthy water in the malting of grain for
brewing; of a _tradesman_ that he adulterates the article he sells; of a
_schoolmaster_ that he is an "ignoramus" on the subject he preten