In Mitiori Sensu

In Mitiori Sensu

In the Past

Formerly in actions of slander it was a rule to take the expression used in mitiori sensu, in the mildest acceptation; and ingenuity was, upon these occasions, continually exercised to devise or discover a meaning which by some remote possibility the speaker might have intended; and some ludicrous examples of this ingenuity may be found. To say of a man who was making his livelihood by buying and selling goods, he is a base, broken rascal, he has broken twice and I'll make him break a third time, was gravely asserted not to be actionable – “ne poet dar porter action, car poet estre intend de burstness de belly,” Latch, 114. And to call a man a thief was declared to be no slander for this reason, “perhaps the speaker might mean he had stolen a lady's heart.”

Developments

The rule now is to construe words agreeably to the meaning usually attached to them. 1 Nott & McCord, 217; 2 Nott & McCord, 511; 8 Mass. R. 248; 1 Wash. R. 152; Kirby, R. 12; 7 Sergeant & Rawle's Pennsylvania Reports (Reports of Cases adjudged in the Supreme Court (see decisions, judges, etc) of Pennsylvania, by Thomas Sergeant and William Rawle), 451; 2 Binn. 34; 3 Binn. 515. [1]

Resources

Notes and References

1. Partialy, this information about in mitiori sensu is based on the Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1848 edition. There is a list of terms of the Bouvier's Law Dictionary, including in mitiori sensu.

See Also