Cerveny v. Chicago Daily News Co.
| Decision Date | 31 October 1891 |
| Citation | 139 Ill. 345,28 N.E. 692 |
| Parties | CERVENY v. CHICAGO DAILY NEWS CO. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Error to appellate court, first district.
Action by Vladimir Cerveny against the Chicago Daily News Company for libel. Judgment for defendant. Plaintiff appeals. Reversed.
Jones & Lusk, for plaintiff in error.
John J. Knickerbocker, for defendant in error.
The demurrer admits all such facts alleged in the declaration as are well pleaded. Gould, Pl. c. 9, § 4. The declaration here alleges, with sufficient legal precision, that the defendant falsely and maliciously published of the plaintiff language, which is literally transcribed in the declaration, charging that the plaintiff is an ‘anarchist.’ An ‘anarchist’ is defined by Webster to be: ‘An anarch; one who excites revolt, or promotes disorder in a state,’ and this we assume to be a sufficiently accurate definition of the word. It is, moreover, here alleged that, at the time and place of the publication complained of, it was commonly understood and believed that ‘the doctrines, opinions, beliefs, teachings, and tenets of said class, party, or sect called ‘Anarchists,’ as aforesaid, and of the persons composing said class, party, or sect, is that the law and order of society then, and ever since then, and now, existing should be overthrown by revolution and force.' It cannot therefore be correctly said that this is no more than charging the plaintiff with being a member of a certain political party; for anarchy, being the enemy of all governments, is necessarily the reverse of a political party, which is always in support of some form of government, and, professedly, of that which is the best. It seems to have been assumed, in the courts below, that it is not libelous to publish, falsely and maliciously, that one entertains principles merely which if carried into practice would be violative of law and destructive of all government and of every right secured by it. It may for the present be conceded that an action would not lie for slander because of the speaking of words, orally only, which would amount to such a charge against an individual; but the rule in regard to libel is different. An action for libel may be sustained for words published which tend to bring the plaintiff into public hatred, contempt, or ridicule, even though the same words spoken would not have been actionable. Folk, Starkie, Sland. & L. §§ 155, 156; Newell, Defam. p. 78 et seq.; Hare & W. Lead. Cas....
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Rosner v. Field Enterprises, Inc., 1-87-1137
...decency, respect for others or reputation and thereby lowers that person in the eyes of the community (See Cerveny v. Chicago Daily News Co. (1891), 139 Ill. 345, 354, 28 N.E. 692), as the gravamen of an action for defamation is damage to the plaintiff's reputation in the eyes of other pers......
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Newell v. Field Enterprises, Inc.
...thus acts to lower him in the estimation of the community and to deter third persons from dealing with him. (Cerveny v. Chicago Daily News Co. (1891), 139 Ill. 345, 28 N.E. 692; Dauw v. Field Enterprises, Inc. (1979), 78 Ill.App.3d 67, 33 Ill.Dec. 708, 397 N.E.2d 41.) In reaching this decis......
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Tidmore v. Mills
... ... adjudged to be libelous per se in Cerveny v. Chicago ... Daily News Co., 139 Ill. 345, 28 N.E. 692, 13 L.R.A ... ...
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Seested v. Post Printing & Pub. Co.
...77 Wis. 43; Buckstaff v. Viall, 84 Wis. 129; Cooper v. Greeley, 1 Denio (N. Y.) 347; Moffatt v. Cauldwell, 3 Hun (N. Y.) 26; Cerveny v. Daily News, 139 Ill. 345; Byrne v. Matthews, 109 N.Y. 662; 36 C. J. Snyder v. New York Press, 121 N.Y.S. 944; Herald News Co. v. Wilkinson, 239 S.W. 297; P......