Case Name: Jesse Dalton, plaintiff in error, vs. James Higgins, defendant in error
Court: Supreme Court of Georgia
Jurisdiction: Georgia
Decision Date: 1866-06
Citations: 34 Ga. 433
Docket Number: 
Parties: Jesse Dalton, plaintiff in error, vs. James Higgins, defendant in error.
Judges: 
Reporter: Georgia Reports
Volume: 34
Pages: 433–434

Head Matter:
Jesse Dalton, plaintiff in error, vs. James Higgins, defendant in error.
Processioners of land are not empowered by law to administer .oaths.
Case for Words. In Oglethorpe Superior Court. Demurrer decided by Judge Thomas. April Term, 1861.
The declaration alleged no special damage, and the words charged were, “ Old Jimmy Higgins (meaning the plaintiff) has sworn to a damned lie.” They were spoken on the 16th of December, 1859, before which time the processioners of the 230th District G. M, of Oglethorpe county, had, by virtue of their authority to procession every person’s land in said district, come forward (with the county surveyor to assist) for the purpose of ascertaining and determining the true line between James Y. Drake and Randal J. Arnold, touching which line a dispute had arisen between said parties, and the plaintiff had been examined on oath and given his evidence as a witness before said processioners.
The defendant demurred to the declaration on the ground that the words were not actionable per se, and there being no special damage alleged, that there was no cause of action set forth.
The Court overruled the demurrer, and the defendant complains of this as error.
Akerman, for plaintiff in error.
Reid, for defendant.

Opinion:
Harris, J.
Whether the action for slander, in this case, can be maintained, turns exclusively onjjthe fact, whether processioners of land " are empowered by law to administer oaths touching the boundary lines which they retrace. Our statutes have been carefully perused, and we have not been able to find any express authority to these public agents, to administer an oath to any one, for any purpose whatever. JSTor can we, looking to the office to be performed by processioners, perceive any reason which should authorize, by implication, the exercise of such a power, as necessarily incidental.