Odger's English Common Law

516 DEFAMATION.
they are spoken, some one must hear them. Thoughts
by themselves are not actionable : merely composing or
even writing down defamatory words is not a tort, unless
they be subsequently published. No action will lie if the
words be communicated only to the person defamed ; for that
does not injure his reputation, though it may wound his self-
esteem. A man's reputation is the estimate in which others
hold him, not the good opinion which he has of himself. It
may be that the defendant desired and intended, and did all
in his power, to publish words defamatory of the plaintiff,
yet if they never reach the ear or eye of any one except the
plaintiff, no tort has been committed. To be actionable, the
words must be published by the defendant to some person
other than the plaintiff, and must make that other person
think worse of the plaintiff.
The intention or motive with which the words were
published is, as a rule, immaterial. If the defendant has in
fact injured the plaintiff's reputation, he is liable, although he
had no such purpose in his mind when he spoke or wrote the
words. Every one must be presumed to know and to intend
the natural and ordinary consequences of his acts. Even if
the defendant at the time he published the words did not
attend to or think of their natural or probable consequences,
or hoped or expected that these consequences would not follow,
this can only go to mitigate the damages ; it is no answer to
the action.
Sometimes, however, it is a man's duty to speak fully and
freely and without thought or fear of the consequences, and
then the above rule does not apply. The words are privileged
by reason of the occasion on which they were employed ; and
no action lies unless the plaintiff can prove that the defendant
was actuated by some wicked or indirect motive. But in all
other cases (although the pleader invariably alleges that the
words were published falsely and maliciously) malice need
never be proved at the trial; the words are actionable, if
false and defamatory, although published inadvertently or
with an honest belief in their truth. Unless the occasion
be privileged, malice is no part of the cause of action;