Libel

7 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Libel \Li"bel\ (l[imac]"b[e^]l), n. [L. libellus a little book,
     pamphlet, libel, lampoon, dim. of liber the liber or inner
     bark of a tree; also (because the ancients wrote on this
     bark), paper, parchment, or a roll of any material used to
     write upon, and hence, a book or treatise: cf. F. libelle.]
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     1. A brief writing of any kind, esp. a declaration, bill,
        certificate, request, supplication, etc. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
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              A libel of forsaking [divorcement].   --Wyclif
                                                    (Matt. v. 31).
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     2. Any defamatory writing; a lampoon; a satire.
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     3. (Law) A malicious publication expressed either in print or
        in writing, or by pictures, effigies, or other signs,
        tending to expose another to public hatred, contempt, or
        ridicule. Such publication is indictable at common law.
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     Note: The term, in a more extended sense, includes the
           publication of such writings, pictures, and the like,
           as are of a blasphemous, treasonable, seditious, or
           obscene character. These also are indictable at common
           law.
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     4. (Law) The crime of issuing a malicious defamatory
        publication.
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     5. (Civil Law & Courts of Admiralty) A written declaration or
        statement by the plaintiff of his cause of action, and of
        the relief he seeks.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Libel \Li"bel\ (l[imac]"b[e^]l), v. i.
     To spread defamation, written or printed; -- with against.
     [Obs.]
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           What's this but libeling against the senate? --Shak.
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           [He] libels now 'gainst each great man.  --Donne.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Libel \Li"bel\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Libeled} (-b[e^]ld) or
     {Libelled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Libeling} or {Libelling}.]
     1. To defame, or expose to public hatred, contempt, or
        ridicule, by a writing, picture, sign, etc.; to lampoon.
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              Some wicked wits have libeled all the fair. --Pope.
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     2. (Law) To proceed against by filing a libel, particularly
        against a ship or goods.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  libel
       n 1: a tort consisting of false and malicious publication printed
            for the purpose of defaming a living person
       2: the written statement of a plaintiff explaining the cause of
          action (the defammation) and any relief he seeks
       v : print slanderous statements against; "The newspaper was
           accused of libeling him"
       [also: {libelling}, {libelled}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  85 Moby Thesaurus words for "libel":
     affidavit, allegation, asperse, aspersion, backbite, backbiting,
     bad-mouth, barefaced lie, belittle, belittlement, besmirch, bill,
     bill of complaint, bitchiness, blacken, blot, burlesque,
     calumniate, calumniation, calumny, caricature, cattiness, claim,
     complaint, consummate lie, declaration, defamation, defame,
     denigrate, denigration, denounce, denunciation, deposition,
     deprecate, deprecation, depreciate, depreciation, derogate,
     derogation, discredit, disgrace, dishonor, disparage,
     disparagement, falsehood, humiliate, humiliation, ill repute,
     innuendo, insinuate, insinuation, lie, malign, misrepresent,
     misrepresentation, monstrous lie, mortification, mortify, narratio,
     nolle prosequi, nonsuit, obloquy, out-and-out lie, prevarication,
     scandal, scandalize, shame, slander, slur, smear, smirch, stain,
     statement, statement of facts, stigma, stigmatize, tear down,
     the big lie, traduce, traducement, travesty, untruth, vilification,
     vilify, whopper
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  LIBEL, practice. A libel has been defined to be "the plaintiff's petition or 
  allegation, made and exhibited in a judicial process, with some solemnity of 
  law;" it is also, said to be "a short and well ordered writing, setting 
  forth in a clear manner, as well to the judge as to the defendant, the 
  plaintiff's or accuser's intention in judgment." It is a written statement 
  by a plaintiff, of his cause of action, and of the relief he seeks to obtain 
  in a suit. Law's Eccl. Law, 147; Ayl. Par. 346; Shelf. on M. & D. 506; Dunl. 
  Admr. Pr. 111; Betts. Adm. Pr. 17; Proct. Pr. h.t.; 2 Chit. Pr. 487, 533. 
       2. The libel should be a narrative, specious, clear, direct, certain, 
  not general, nor alternative. 3 Law's Eccl. Law. 147. It should contain, 
  substantially, the following requisites: 1. The name, description, and 
  addition of the plaintiff, who makes his demand by bringing his action. 2 
  The name, description, and addition of the defendant. 3. The name of the 
  judge with a respectful designation of his office and court. 4. The thing or 
  relief, general or special, which is demanded in the suit. 5. The grounds 
  upon which the suit is founded. All these things are summed up in Latin, as 
  follows; 
  
        Quis, quid, coram quo, quo jure petitur, et a quo,    
        Recte compositus quique libellus habet: 
  
  which has been translated, 
  
       Each plaintiff and defendant's name, 
       and eke the judge who tries the same, 
       The thing demanded and the right whereby 
       You urge to have it granted instantly: 
       He doth a libel write and well compose, 
       Who forms the same, emitting none of those.
  
       3. The form of a libel is either simple or articulate. The simple form 
  is, when the cause of action is stated in a continuous narration, when the 
  cause of action can be briefly set forth. The articulate form, is when the 
  cause of action is stated in distinct allegations, or articles. 2 Law's 
  Eccl. Law, 148; Hall's Adm. Pr. 123; 7 Cranch, 349. The material facts 
  should be stated in distinct articles in the libel, with as much exactness 
  and attention to times and circumstances, as in a declaration at common law. 
  4 Mason, 541. Pompous diction and strong epithets are out of place in a 
  legal paper designed to obtain the admission of the opposite party of the 
  averments it contains, or to lay before the court the facts which the actor 
  will prove. 
       4. Although there is no fixed formula for libels and the court will 
  receive such an instrument from the party in such form as his own skill or 
  that of his counsel may enable him to give it, yet long usage has sanctioned 
  forms, which it may be most prudent to adopt. The parts and arrangement of 
  libels commonly employed are, 
       5.-1. The address to the court; as, To the Honorable John K. Kane, 
  Judge of the district court of the United States, within and for the eastern 
  district of Pennsylvania. 
       6.-2. The names and descriptions of the parties. Persons competent to 
  sue at common law may be parties libellants, and similar regulations obtain 
  in the admiralty courts and the common law courts, respecting those 
  disqualified from suing in their own right or name. Married women prosecute 
  by their husbands, or by prochein ami, when the husband has an adverse 
  interest to hers; minors, by guardians, tutors, or prochein ami; lunatics 
  and persons non compos mentis, by tutor, guardian ad litem, or committee; 
  the rights of deceased persons are prosecuted by executors or 
  administrators; and corporations are represented, and proceeded against as 
  at common law. 
       7.-3. The averments or allegations setting forth the cause of action 
  should be conformable to the truth, and so framed as to correspond with the 
  evidence. Every fact requisite to establish the libellant's right should be 
  clearly stated, so that it may be directly met by the opposing party by 
  admission, denial or avoidance; this is the more necessary because no proof 
  can be given, or decree rendered, not covered by and conformable to the 
  allegations. 1 Law's Eccl. Laws, 150; Hall's Pr. 126; Dunl. Adm. Pr. 113; 7 
  Cranch, 394. 
       8.-4. The conclusion, or prayer for relief and process; the prayer 
  should be for the specific relief desired; for general relief, as is usual 
  in bills in chancery; the conclusion should also pray for general, or 
  particular process. Law's Eccl. Law, 149; and see 3 Mason, R. 503. 
  Interrogatories are sometimes annexed to the libel; when this is the case, 
  there is usually a special prayer, that the defendant may be required to 
  answer the libel, and the interrogatories annexed and propounded. This, 
  however, is a dangerous practice, because it renders the answers of the 
  defendant evidence, which must be disproved by two witnesses, or by one 
  witness, corroborated by very strong circumstances. 
       9. The libel is the first proceeding in a suit in admiralty in the 
  courts of the United States. 3 Mason, R., 504. It is also used in some other 
  courts. Vide, generally, Dunl. Adm. Pr. ch. 3; Bett's Adm. Pr. s. 3; Shelf. 
  on. M. & D. 606; Hall's Adm. Pr. Index, h.t.; 3 Bl. Com. 100; Ayl. Par. 
  Index, h.t.; Com. Dig. Admiralty, E; 2 Roll. &b. 298. 
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  LIBEL, libellus, criminal law. A malicious defamation expressed either in 
  printing or writing, or by signs or pictures, tending to blacken the memory 
  of one who is dead, with intent to provoke the living; or the reputation of 
  one who is alive, and to expose him to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule. 
  Hawk. b. 1, c. 73, s. 1; Wood's Inst, 444; 4 Bl. Com. 150; 2 Chitty, Cr. 
  Law, 867; Holt on Lib. 73; 5 Co. 125; Salk. 418; Ld. Raym. 416; 4. T. R. 
  126; 4 Mass. R. 168; 9 John. 214; 1 Den. Rep. 347; 2 Pick. R. 115; 2 Kent, 
  Com. 13. It has been defined perhaps with more precision to be a censorious 
  or ridiculous writing, picture or sign made with a malicious or mischievous 
  intent, towards government magistrates or individuals. 3 John. Cas. 354; 9 
  John. R. 215; 5 Binn. 340. 
       2. In briefly considering this offence, we will inquire, 1st. By what 
  mode of expression a libel may be conveyed. 2d. Of what kind of defamation 
  it must consist. 3d. How plainly it must be expressed. 4th. What mode of 
  publication is essential. 
       3.-1. The reduction of the slanderous matter to writing, or printing, 
  is the most usual mode of conveying it. The exhibition of a picture, 
  intimating that which in print would be libelous, is equally criminal. 2 
  Camp. 512; 5 Co. 125; 2 Serg. & Rawle 91. Fixing a gallows at a man's door, 
  burning him in effigy, or exhibiting him in any ignominious manner, is a 
  libel. Hawk. b. 1, c. 73, s. 2,; 11 East, R. 227. 
       4.-2. There is perhaps no branch of the law which is so difficult to 
  reduce to exact, principles, or to compress within a small compass, as the 
  requisites of a libel. All publications denying the Christian religion to be 
  true; 11 Serg. & Rawle, 394; Holt on Libels, 74; 8 Johns. R. 290; Vent. 293; 
  Keb. 607; all writings subversive of morality and tending to inflame the 
  passions by indecent language, are indictable at common law. 2 Str. 790; 
  Holt on Libels, 82; 4 Burr. 2527. In order to constitute a libel, it is not 
  necessary that anything criminal should be imputed to the party injured; it 
  is enough if the writer has exhibited him in a ludicrous point of view; has 
  pointed him out as an object of ridicule or disgust; has, in short, done 
  that which has a natural tendency to excite him to revenge. 2 Wils. 403; 
  Bacon's Abr. Libel, A 2;  4 Taunt. 355; 3 Camp. 214; Hardw. 470; 5 Binn. 
  349. The case of Villars v. Monsley, 2 Wils. 403, above cited, was grounded 
  upon the following verses, which were held to be libelous, namely: 
  
  "Old-Villers, so strong of brimstone you smell, 
   As if not long since you had got out of hell,
   But this damnable smell I no longer can bear,
   Therefore I desire you would come no more here;
   You, old stinking; old nasty, old itchy, old toad,
   If you come any more you shall pay for your board,
   You'll therefore take this as a warning from me,
   And never enter the doors, while they belong to J. P.
   Wilncot, December 4, 1767."
  
       5. Libels against the memory of the dead which have a tendency to 
  create a breach of the peace by inciting the friends and relatives of the 
  deceased to avenge the insult of the family, render their authors liable to 
  legal animadversion. 5 co. 123; 5 Binn. 281; 2 Chit. Cr. Law, 868; 4 T. R. 
  186. 
       6.-3. If the matter be understood as scandalous, and is calculated to 
  excite ridicule or abhorrence against the party intended, it is libelous, 
  however it may be expressed. 5 East, 463; 1 Price, 11, 17; Hob. 215; Chit. 
  Cr. Law, 868; 2 Campb. 512. 
       7.-4. The malicious reading of a libel to one or more persons, it 
  being on the shelves in a bookstore, as other books, for sale; and where the 
  defendant directed the libel to be printed, took away some and left others; 
  these several acts have been held to be publications. The sale of each copy; 
  where several copies have been sold, is a distinct publication, and a fresh 
  offence.  The publication must be malicious; evidence of the malice may be 
  either express or implied. Express proof is not necessary: for where a man 
  publishes a writing which on the face of it is libelous, the law presumes he 
  does so from that malicious intention which constitutes the offence, and it 
  is unnecessary, on the part of the prosecution, to prove any circumstance 
  from which malice may be inferred. But no allegation, however false and 
  malicious, contained in answers to interrogatories, in affidavits duly made, 
  or any other proceedings, in courts of justice, or petitions to the 
  legislature, are indictable. 4 Co. 14; 2 Burr. 807; Hawk. B. 1, c. 73, s. 8; 
  1 Saund. 131, n. 1; 1 Lev. 240; 2 Chitty's Cr. Law, 869; 2 Serg. & Rawle, 
  23. It is no defence that the matter published is part of a document printed 
  by order of the house of commons. 9 A. &E. 1. 
       8. The publisher of a libel is liable to be punished criminally by 
  indictment; 2 Chitty's Cr. Law, 875; or is subject to an action on the case 
  by the party grieved. Both remedies may be pursued at the same time. Vide) 
  generally, Holt on Libels; Starkie on Slander; 1 Harr. Dig. Case, I.; Chit. 
  Cr. L. Index, h.t.; Chit. Pr. Index, h.t.