SCANDAL
scandal. 1. Disgraceful, shameful, or degrading acts or conduct. 2. Defamatory reports or
rumors; esp., slander. See SCANDALOUS MATTER.
“Scandal consists in the allegation of anything which is unbecoming the dignity of the court
to hear, or is contrary to decency or 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. The matter alleged,
however, must be not only offensive, but also irrelevant to the cause, for however offensive it be,
if it be pertinent and material to the cause the party has a right to plead it. It may often be
necessary to charge false representations, fraud and immorality, and the pleading will not be open
to the objection of scandal, if the facts justify the charge.” Eugene A. Jones, Manual of Equity
Pleading and Practice 50–51 (1916). [Blacks Law 8th]