Samuel Blackburn v John Blackburn
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 19 November 1827 |
| Date | 19 November 1827 |
| Court | Court of Common Pleas |
English Reports Citation: 130 E.R. 819
IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, AND OTHER COURTS
S. C. 1 Moo. & P. 33; 6 L. J. C. P. (O. S.) 13: at Nisi Prius, 3 Car. & P. 146.
[395] samuel blackburn v. john blackburn. Nov. 19,1827. [S. C. 1 Moo. & P. 33; 6 L. J. C. P. (O. S.) 13 : at Nisi Prius, 3 Car. & P. 146.] A jury, directed to find whether a libel submitted to their consideration were a privileged communication, and if so, whether it were attended with express malice, found for the Plaintiff 501. damages, and that the Defendant was not actuated by express malice :-Held, that the Plaintiff was entitled to retain his damages. Action on the case for a libel, charging the Plaintiff with having committed a forgery, to which the Defendant pleaded, aa a justification, that the Plaintiff had 820 BLACKBUBN V. BLACKBURN 4 BING. 396. committed a forgery iu the manner charged. The declaration contained no allegation of special damage. At the trial before Gaselee J., London sittings after Trinity term laat, it appeared that) in the beginning of 1827, the Plaintiff, a dissenting minister and candidate for the charge of a congregation, finding that rumours had been circulated to his prejudice, instituted an enquiry, which terminated in his friends printing and circulating among the congregation the following circular, the statements in which, touching the alleged forgery and the conduct of the Defendant, were fully substantiated by the evidence adduced at the trial. "Bethnal Green, 15th February 1827. " Dear Sir,-The object for which the following statement is transmitted to you is obvious, and therefore requires no comment: it is sent in the hope that if the unfounded calumnies it refutes should have reached you, the minister they wera designed to injure may be restored to the possession of the unimpeachable reputation both in the church and in the world we are persuaded he deserves.-We remain, dear Sir, your affectionate frienda and servants, " john kello, Minister of Bethnal Green Meeting. "egbert garrett,-id "JOHN king, Beacons. [396] " The increasing infirmities of the Reverend John Kello having rendered it expedient that regular assistance in his public labours should ba procured, occasional supplies were engaged for part of the Lord's day, who met with various degrees of acceptance; and some painful differences of opinion having arisen respecting the right of procuring the assistance, which all admitted to be necessary, led to the resignation of the deaeonship by Mr. Briscoe. In this state of things, and subsequent to Mr. B.'s resignation, the Reverend Samuel Blackburn was invited in August last to preach a single sermon, which was so much approved as to induce an immediate application to him by the Reverend J. Kello and the deacons for his future services, and thus he was engaged from Sabbath to Sabbath with increasing approbation, until, at the expiration of two mouths, a meeting of the church and congregation was publicly convened, to consider of the propriety of inviting him to supply the pulpit once on the Lord's day for a 'specific period. " At this meeting Mr. Briscoe and Mr. R. L.'.Sturtevant were present, and made several vague insinuations against the private character of Mr. Blackburn, which led to the postponement of the business for four days to give time for further enquiries. Having received the most unexceptionable and satisfactory testimonies from those who had known Mr. Blackburn intimately for many years, added to the fact that he had lived in great respectability in the immediate neighbourhood for the last nine years; and as, the opposing parties absented themselves from the second meeting, by which it might be inferred, they admitted their previous opinions to be unfounded, an unanimous invitation for three months was agreed to and transmitted to Mr. Blackburn, signed by the aged minister and deacons on behalf of the church and congregation. From the increasing number of hearers, and some pleasing indications of usefulness [397] which had resulted from his ministry during these three months, towards the close of that period another public meeting was convened, which was more numerously attended than the former, and an invitation for an additional three months was unanimously agreed to. " The Reverend J. Kello, in conveying to Mr. Blackburn the request of the meeting, added, ' if the first invitation was unanimous, the second is enthusiastic.' It was now that unpleasant rumours, which were traced to Mr. R. L. Sturtevaut, began to create uneasiness, and Mr. Garrett, the senior deacon, waited on him, and enquired what grounds he had for the reports he had circulated respecting Mr. Blackburn 1 The reply of Mr. Stui-tevant was, 'Mr. Blackburn has put his uncle's name to a bill of exchange, which he was obliged to pay to prevent him from being prosecuted;' and added some other circumstances, which, if true, involved the moral consistency of Mr. Blackburn. The result of this conference was communicated to the Reverend J. Kello, who informed Mr. Blackburn of the serious imputations cast upon him. " No sooner was the communication made to Mr. B. than he sought an interview with Mr. R, L. Sturtevant, and entreated him to accompany him instantly to his 4*INd. Ma BLACKBURN t . BLACKBURN 821 uncle, Mr...
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