LIBEL AND SLANDER-LIABILITY OF A TELEGRAPH COMPANY FOR THE TRANSMISSION OF A DEFAMATORY MESSAGE

Authors

Abstract

It is surprising that despite the tremendous number of messages handled, covering almost every conceivable subject, the question of the liability of a telegraph company for the transmission of a defamatory message has arisen in but half a dozen jurisdictions. The earliest reported case, decided in 1858 when the law as to the tort liability of a corporation was still in the formative period, asserted the liability of the telegraph company on the sole ground that a corporation could be guilty of malice. Following a series of cases arising in the state and federal courts of Minnesota, a modern rule seems to have developed that the telegraph company was liable for the transmission of a defamatory message, unless the message was not libelous on its face, but was reasonably susceptible of an innocent construction, in which case the transmission of the message was privileged. The supreme court of Wisconsin, in a 1929 decision, giving the question original consideration, although it had been cited to all the reported decisions on the subject, held that the company was not liable for the transmission, in the usual course of its business, of a message clearly libelous on its face, on the ground that the communication from one employee to another, and finally to the person defamed, was privileged.

Recommended Citation

LIBEL AND SLANDER-LIABILITY OF A TELEGRAPH COMPANY FOR THE TRANSMISSION OF A DEFAMATORY MESSAGE, 29 Mich. L. Rev. 339 (1931).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol29/iss3/5