The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1879-06-14
SUPREME COURT DECISIONS.
Reported Weekly by Jenkins
A. Little, Attorneys at Law
MONDAY, June 0, 1879
Gro. w. RoGERs, ct al.
VS.. No. 30o0.
Ja,rNy II KLINE

Gro. w. ROGERS, ct al.
VS.. No 30o9.
JOHN ID. KLINE.
Error to tho Circuit Court of Warren
county, Hon. U. M. Young, Judge.
John D. Kline, a physician, attended
Miss Chiso!m, who was wounded at the
time her father, Judge Chisolm was Killed.
from which wound she afterwards died
Subsequently thereto, an editorial ap-
peared in the vicksburg Herald, Oh the
'Kemper County Affair."" which contained
nis sentence: "The accident OF MISS
Chisolm's death, caused by mal>pracuce,
and not by her slight wound, adds tenfoid
to the deplorable consequences.
Kline brought suit for libel against PLAIN
tifrs in error, proprietors of said newspaper
which resulted in judgment in his taVor'
from which the defendants (below) prose-
cuted q writ of error.
GEORGE, G. j.,
Hed,-
l. The single sentence in question Is
found in an article of column III lengtn,
published in the Vicksburg Herald, IN
Nav. 1877. The article is headed "kash
SoTtherners and Philanthropic Northern
ers. . and contains but one other reference
70 Miss Chisolms death, in which 1t Is
stated to have been accidental from gan
creme" II is clear, from perusal OF the
whole article, that 1t was no part OF the
object and purpose of the writer to crltl-
else the treatment medical or otherwise,
which sue received in her last lllness. NC
mention is made of the name OF any person
concerned in the treatment, nor any allu'
sion made to the fact that she had medl'
cal attendant, unless such alluslon Is MADE
in the language above quoted
.. The manifest object and purpose Of
the article, as well as its scope, was tc
soften the unfavorable effect produced IL
the public mind, by the transaction ther
known as the ''Chisolm massacre" which
had been greatly intensified by the dealt
of Miss Chisolm.
q The force of the alleged libel seems
IN consist in the use of the word ''mal
nractice.U In its technical sense, as APP
n,lied TO prosecutions, eitler civil or crlmI
nal against physician for unskllful treat
ment of a patient under his charge, II
would be actionable. But there is nothing
in the article of which this language is q
part, which suggests that the word was used
IN technical rather than popular sense.
a.. It is a rule, that in writings intended
for popular reading, and having no rela-
ton to any art or profession, word which
does not itself import that it is used in q
technical sense, is to have its popular sig
! niicatien.
| :. Words spoken or written OF one III
| his special character, as the occupant OF an
office, or the follower of any profession OF
trade, from which he derives pecuniary
gain, though generally not actionable, be-
come so if they impute to such person such
ignorance or incapacity as units HIM tol
| the proper exercise of his calling But il
is also settled that it is not aetonable tt
charge such person with want of skill, Oh
| ignorance, OF neglect in a particular trans
action done i'll his special character, unless
the charge be of such gross want of skill
OF ignorance as would imply general un
fitness for his calling.
6. Ii is also assigned for error, that the
Court refused to allow the defendants, al
the close of the evidence, and after the
charges asked had been passed on by the
Court, to amend their pleas of justification
| Tnder SSG2l and G23 of the Code the &C.
ton of the Court was erroneous.
7. No error was committed in excluding
from the jury the evidence offered, "tha,
at the time the publication was made, re-
ports were in circulation, in Kemper conn
ty. where Miss Chisom died, that the plain
tiff had been guilty of malpractice in hel
! case