Special Part, Illustrations. (5)

Z. has been A.’s servant, and offers himself as a servant to M. M. asks A. his opinion of Z.’s character and competence. This is a privileged occasion, and no wrong is done to Z., though A.’s account of him given to M. be unfavourable, unless Z. can prove not only that A.’s account was not true in substance, but that A. spoke or wrote, not with the honest purpose of giving information to M. which it was right that M. should have, but from personal ill-will to Z.

Z. is A.’s servant and a minor. A. dismisses Z. on suspicion of theft, and writes to Z.’s father explaining the grounds of his suspicion. Afterwards A. sees Z. in conversation with P. and Q., other servants of A., and warns P. and Q. against having anything to do with Z. A.’s letter to Z.’s parents is written, and his warning to P. and Q. is given, on a privileged occasion.

A., a merchant who has dealings with B., sends Z. to B.’s office with a message. After Z. has left B.’s office B. misses a purse from the room in which Z. has been. B. goes to A. and tells him that Z. must have taken the purse. This occasion is privileged.

A. and B. are part owners of a ship. A. hears unfavourable reports of the master’s conduct as a seaman and communicates them to B. This occasion is privileged.

A. and B. are partners. C. is their managing clerk. X. writes a letter to the firm proposing a business transaction. C. opens the letter and submits it to A., telling A. that from his own knowledge of X. he does not think the firm ought to trust him. A. shows X.’s letter and repeats this conversation to B., and A. and B. cause a letter to be sent in the name of the firm to P., a customer of theirs, stating the circumstances and asking for information as to X.’s business reputation. P. sends an answer in which he makes, partly as from his own knowledge and partly on general information, various unfavourable statements about X. These statements concerning X. are all made on a privileged occasion.

Sending defamatory matter by telegraph, or on a postcard, or the communication of such matter by any means to an excessive number of persons, or to persons having no interest, or the communication by negligence to one person of matter intended for and proper to be communicated to another person, or the use of intemperate language, may make a statement wrongful, even if the occasion is otherwise privileged.

A. and Z. are inhabitants of the same town. Z. is the executor of a friend who has left a widow and children surviving. X. is Z.’s agent in the executorship. A. says to Z. in the presence of other persons, “You and your agent are spoken of as robbing the widow and the orphan.” The occasion is privileged as regards both X. and Z., if A. intended in good faith to communicate to Z. matter which A. thought it important that Z., for the sake of his own character, should know. The question of what A.’s intention really was depends, among other things, on the circumstances of the conversation and the number and condition of the persons present.