## Facts

- Benjamin Brandreth sold a widely advertised patent medicine known as “Brandreth’s Vegetable Universal Pills.”
- Sylvester Lance, a former employee discharged by Brandreth, prepared a pamphlet for publication depicting Brandreth (thinly disguised under a similar name) in a sensational and defamatory manner.
- Brandreth alleged the pamphlet was false and malicious, and that publication would damage his reputation and business.
- Brandreth sought an injunction in the New York Court of Chancery to restrain Lance and associated printers/publishers from printing or publishing the pamphlet.
- Lance demurred, arguing that equity lacked jurisdiction to enjoin a libelous publication.

## Issues

1. Whether a court of equity may enjoin publication of an alleged libel when the asserted harm is to personal reputation rather than a distinct property right.
2. Whether an injunction prohibiting publication of an alleged libel constitutes an impermissible prior restraint inconsistent with freedom of the press.

## Decision

- The court sustained the demurrer and dismissed the bill.
- The court held it lacked equitable jurisdiction to restrain publication of a claimed personal libel unconnected to protection of property rights.
- The court concluded that an injunction against publication would operate as a prohibited prior restraint; the proper remedies were civil damages (and, where applicable, criminal prosecution) after publication.

## Legal Principles

- Equity traditionally restrains publications only to protect property-related interests (e.g., confidential materials or proprietary rights), not merely to prevent injury to reputation.
- Injury to character and reputation is ordinarily addressed through actions at law for libel (and potentially criminal proceedings), rather than preventive injunctive relief.
- Freedom of the press, as understood at the time, generally prohibits “previous restraints” on publication, while permitting liability or punishment after publication for unlawful content.

## Conclusion

The court refused to enjoin an allegedly defamatory pamphlet because the claim sought protection for reputation rather than a recognized property right, and because restraining publication in advance would function as an improper prior restraint; Brandreth’s remedy lay in a post-publication libel action at law.


Brandreth v. Lance, 8 Paige Ch. 24 (N.Y. Ch. 1839)