SCANDAL

A scandalous verbal report or rumor respecting some person. 2. The remedy is an action on the case. 3. In chancery practice, when a bill or other pleading contains scandal, it will be referred to a master to be expunged, and till this has been done, the opposite party need not answer. 3 Bl. Com. 342. Nothing is considered scandalous which is positively relevant to the cause, however harsh and gross the charge may be. The degree of relevancy is not deemed material. Defamatory reports or rumors; aspersion or slanderous talk, uttered recklessly or maliciously. In pleading. “Scandal consists In the allegation of anything which is unbecoming the dignity of the court to hear, or is contrary to good manners, or which charges some person with a crime not necessary to be shown in the cause; to which may be added that any unnecessary allegation, bearing cruelly upon the moral character of an individual, is also scandalous.”