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Some Implications Of The Constitutional Privilege To Defame, Robert E. Keeton

Vanderbilt Law Review

In this issue of the Vanderbilt Law Review we honor an extraordinary scholar, teacher, and Dean. It is a happy circumstance that the editors have offered us this opportunity at a time when we can confidently predict that Dean Wade will continue to serve us with great distinction in years ahead. The present article concerns some pending problems in the law of defamation that have already attracted Dean Wade's active interest. This seems a particularly fitting subject for inclusion in a symposium celebrating not only his distinguished past service but also a commencement incident to his release from decanal responsibility.

Variation On Libel Per Quod, Laurence H. Eldredge

Vanderbilt Law Review

During the nineteenth century it became settled common law in England and in the United States that in any action for libel, as distinct from slander, the plaintiff could recover damages without pleading or proving that he had in fact suffered any damages as a result of the publication. The American Law Institute accepted this as sound law. Volume III of the Restatement of Torts, published in 1938, stated the rule in section 569: "One who falsely, and without a privilege to do so, publishes matter defamatory to another in such a manner as to make the publication a libel …

Libel Per Se And Special Damages, Alfred H. Knight Iii

Vanderbilt Law Review

Toward the end of the last century a few of the American courts began to express the view that allegation and proof of special damages is necessary in libel actions unless the defamatory meaning of the words is apparent on their face.' Although none of these courts appeared to realize it, this notion was entirely of their own invention. Under the orthodox theory, which went virtually unquestioned in the century preceding these decisions, all written defamation is actionable without proof of special damages, whether it is designated libel per se or libel per quod. Words which are defamatory on their …

Book Reviews, William N. Ethridge, Jr. (Reviewer), M. G. Dakin (Reviewer), A. B. Neil (Reviewer), C. M. Updegraff (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

Book Reviews

The Roosevelt Court: A Study in Judicial Politics and Values By C.Herman Pritchett New York: The Macmillan Company, 1948, Pp. 314,$5.00

Lions Under the Throne By Charles P. Curtis, Jr. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1947. Pp. 361. $3.50

The Nine Young Men By Wesley McCune New York: Harper & Bros.,1947. Pp. 293. $3.50

reviewer: William N. Ethridge, Jr.

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A Declaration of Legal Faith By Wiley Rutledge Lawrence, Kansas:University of Kansas Press, 1947. Pp. 82. $2.00

reviewer: M. G. Dakin

The Papers of Walter Clark: 1857-1901, Vol. 1 Edited by Aubrey Lee Brooks and Hugh T. Leffler Chapel …