[ G.R. No. 1109. May 15, 1903 ] 2 Phil. 254
[ G.R. No. 1109. May 15, 1903 ]
THE UNITED STATES, COMPLAINANT AND APPELLEE, VS. JOSE M. LERMA, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT. D E C I S I O N
LADD, J.:
The defendant has been convicted in the trial court of publishing a libel upon J. H. Goldman. The supposed libel is contained in a writing in the form of a petition, signed by the defendant and addressed to the justice of the peace of the pueblo of Pilar, Bataan. This writing was sent by the defendant, inclosed in a sealed envelope, to the justice of the peace. Several criminal prosecutions were at this time pending against the defendant before the justice, and when the petition was delivered the preliminary investigation was being held in one of these cases. The petition states that it is rumored that a plan has been formed to prosecute the petitioner for the purpose of discrediting his candidacy for the governorship of the province, and in general to injure his reputation. Then follows this language, the italicized words being those which are alleged to constitute the libel: “The hatred and animosity, Mr. Justice, of certain provincial officials totcard me, and especially of the governor, Mr. Goldman, the defeated [candidate in the recent elections, and of the provincial fiscal, Senor Soriano, who has been and is my open enemy, are notorious not only in this province but in Manila, the evident purpose, the outgroicth of previous resentment, being to ruin my political career. The accusations which have been fabricated against me are premeditated and false, the result of passions engendered by political contests, and for this reason the worthy authorities at Manila, in the exercise of their sound judgment, rejected them when they were presented to them. The governor, Mr. Goldman, availing himself of the office which he holds as a provincial authority, has extorted affidavits from certain persons whom he has caused to sign incorrect documents.” The petition goes on to suggest that the fiscal ought to withdraw from the prosecutions, being attorney for the parties claiming to be aggrieved, and, after exhorting the justice to act with the deliberation which the gravity of the situation demands, concludes with a prayer that, before any judgment unfavorable to the petitioner is rendered, he be given an opportunity to be heard and to testify in his own behalf, and that the petition be filed in the cause, if there is one pending.
While it was not, perhaps, shown at the trial that Mr. Goldman had been instrumental in securing any statements which were ever actually laid before the justice of the peace, it did appear that he had been instrumental in securing statements charging the defendant with various acts of wrongdoing, some of which acts were the subject of .certain of the prosecutions pending before the justice at the time of the filing of the petition. Whether the evidence shows that these statements, or any of them, had been secured by Mr. Goldman in such a manner as to warrant the charge that they were “extorted” from the parties who made them, and whether the statements were true or not, are questions which we do not think it necessary to determine. There was some evidence tending to establish the affirmation of both these propositions.
Assuming that the statements in the petition relating to Mr. Goldman are defamatory, were they made under such circumstances and for such a purpose as to relieve the defendant from criminal responsibility for them?
Section 3 of Act No. 277 provides that “an injurious publication is presumed to have been malicious if no justifiable motive for making it is shown.” The effect of this provision is to make the existence of justifiable motives a complete defense to a prosecution for libel. If the publication is shown to have been made with justifiable motives the malicious intent, which is an essential ingredient in the definition of the offense (sees. 1 and 2), and which is presumed from the mere fact of the publication of defamatory matter, is negatived. In other words, the existence of justifiable motives implies the absence of malice. Whether the defendant can, by merely showing that the supposed libel was published upon what is known in the common law as a “privileged occasion,” shift to the Government the burden of going forward with evidence to show actual malice, need not now be considered. When the evidence is nil in, if the defendant has shown the existence of justifiable motives, he is entitled to an acquittal; otherwise the publication is considered malicious and he must be convicted.
It has been suggested that section 4 is inconsistent with section 3, giving to the latter section the construction which we have placed upon it. It may be difficult to harmonize these sections if the language of section 4 is to be taken in its literal significance, but we think there is no inconsistency if we look to the real purpose of the two sections.
Section 4 is as follows: “In all criminal prosecutions for libel the truth may be given in evidence to the court, and if it appears to the court that the matter charged as libelous is true and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted; otherwise he shall be convicted; but to establish this defense, not only must the truth of the matter so charged be proven but also that it was published with good motives and for justifiable ends.”
The effect of this section appears to be to make the fact that the defamatory matter was true, evidence to show the existence of justifiable motives, but as justifiable motives may be lacking even Avhere the defamatory matter is true—the common-law maxim indeed being that the greater the truth the greater the libel—the law says that it is not enough merely to establish the truth of the words alleged to be libelous, but that the court must be satisfied upon the whole case, giving to the fact that the words are true such importance as it may deserve as the basis of an inference as to the true character of the party’s conduct, that the motives of the publication were good and the ends justifiable.
If the purpose of the section is to make it in general incumbent upon the defendant, in order to establish a defense to a prosecution for libel, to prove both truth and justifiable motives, the words “the truth may be given in evidence to the court” are superfluous; so also is the clause “but to establish this defense, not only must the truth of the matter so charged be proven but also that it was published with good motives and for justifiable ends.” The whole structure of the section indicates that it is not intended as a qualification of the general rule of responsibility laid down in section 3, but that its purpose is, as we have said, merely to render admissible evidence of truth in order to show the character of the defendant’s motives.
We take it that the words “good motives” and “justifiable ends” of section 4 are of equivalent import with the expression “justifiable motive” in section 3.
Act No. 277, down to section 11, is almost identical with sections 248-257 of the California Penal Code. The California statute is itself framed on the lines of other recent English and American legislation, by which the common-law doctrine whereby a defendant was not permitted in a criminal prosecution for libel to prove that his words were true, has been modified to the extent of permitting such evidence “when the further fact appears that the publication was made with good motives and for justifiable ends” (2 Bishop’s New Criminal Law, sec. 920); or “that it was for the public benefit” that the words should have been published. (4 Enc. of Laws of England, 189.)
Section 9 of Act No, 277 provides that “a private communication made by any person to another, in good faith, in the performance of any duty, whether legal, moral, or social, solely with the fair and reasonable purpose of protecting the interests of the person making the communication or the interests of the person to whom the communication is made, is a privileged communication, and the person making the same shall not be guilty of libel nor be within the provisions of this act” What constitutes a justifiable motive is thus defined with reference to private communications, and it is to be noticed that it is not necessary, in order to establish the defense in such cases, that the truth of the words should be proved. If the construction which we have placed upon section 3 is not correct, but it is necessary with reference to written statements not embraced within section 9 to show both justifiable motives and the truth of the statements, in order to establish a defense, then it follows that private written communications are placed upon a more favorable footing than written statements made by a judge, counsel, witness, or, as in the present case, by a party, in the course of judicial proceedings, and, in general, more favorable than any written statements made in the discharge of public duties of any character. We do not think this result could have been,contemplated by the framers of the act.
If the effect of section 3 is, as has been suggested, merely to fix the burden of proof and not to make the existence of justifiable motives a defense, it will still be necessary in every case, in order to decide whether the presumption of malice is rebutted, to determine what are to be considered justifiable motives. The difficulty which it is supposed would result from the construction of section 3, which we have adopted, that there would be “absolutely no guide or compass to direct the court in the determination of what are justifiable motives,” exists, therefore, if it exists at all, equally upon the other construction.
The ultimate question is, then, as we construe Act No. 277, whether the words alleged to constitute the libel were published with justifiable motives.
The matter contained in the petition presented to the justice by the defendant all related to the supposed prosecutions against the latter, and we think the circumstances of the case show quite conclusively that the sole motive of the defendant in presenting the petition was to defend himself against those charges. It was not an attempt to make use of judicial proceedings as a vehicle for the utterance of slander. It was merely an exercise of the natural right which a person accused of crime possesses, and which it is for the public interest that he should enjoy unhampered so long as he exercises it in good faith and in a proper manner, to bring to the notice of the tribunal which is to pass upon his guilt all such considerations as he thinks may influence its judgment in his behalf, even though he may in so doing “incidentally disparage private character.” In the sense of the law we think, therefore, that the defendant’s motives must be regarded as justifiable.
We do not undertake to lay down any general rule as to what is to be regarded as a “justifiable motive” in criminal prosecutions for libel under Act No. 277. Other cases, involving different conditions of fact, will be determined as they arise. The publication in the present case must, we think, be regarded as having been made with justifiable motives, upon any rational view which can be taken of the meaning of that expression. This result seems a mere corollary from principles of natural right as well as of public policy too obvious to require any express recognition in the written law, and though in accord Avith the American and Knglish doctrine as to the privilege accorded parties, witnesses, and counsel in judicial proceedings, has been reached independently of that doctrine.
The judgment is reversed, with costs de oficio. Let the case be returned to tin? court below for proceedings in conformity with this opinion, acquitting the defendant.
Arellano, C. J., Torres and Mapa, JJ., concur.