In an action of damages for slander raised by the wife of the tenant of a house in a city, pursuer, against the corporation of the city, defenders, held that a tax-collector whose duties included ‘the collection of the police assessments payable by the pursuer’s husband and the granting of receipts therefor,’ and who consequently had to consider what credits the payer was entitled to, was not acting within the scope of his employment in accusing the pursuer of altering and forging a receipt entitling to a credit, so as to render the corporation, his employers, liable in damages for slander. Per the Lord Chancellor – ‘I do not see that he (the tax-collector) had any authority to express an opinion.’
Citations:
48 SLR 399, [1911] UKHL 399
Links:
Jurisdiction:
Scotland
Defamation
Updated: 21 June 2022; Ref: scu.619192