—"moral turpitude" is defined: " `An act of baseness, vileness or depravity in the private and social duties which a man owes to his fellow man or to society in general contrary to the accepted and customary rule of right and duty between man and man.'"

Other jurisdictions have followed the seventeenth-century English doctrine of mitior sensu, applicable to slander, which required that words be given an innocent construction whenever humanly possible.

In some early opinions, the court assumed that a claim for punitive damages might be recoverable in theory but was improperly submitted to the jury in the particular case.

The most recent pronouncements of the court suggest that it is necessary to allege and prove special damages.

In other words, if the complaint fails to allege an action which is libelous per se, it is necessary to plead special damages or the complaint is fatally defective for failure to state an actionable cause based on libel

On the other hand, the court's language in Ruble v. Kirkwood242 would permit the opposing conclusion: "Since... there is no evidence tending to show with any degree of certainty that plaintiff was actually damaged, it was error to submit to the jury the question of punitive damages

"To be defamatory per se the letter should be capable of but one meaning. 36 CJ 1150. The words must be of such character that the law will presume the person of whom they are written to have been damaged. Words having a doubtful meaning cannot be declared as a matter of law, to be actionable per se."

—the defendant was sued for libel for publishing a letter reciting that the plaintiff "has now been made defendant in. criminal actions."

—case, the court has implied that libel and slander, where no special damages exist, have the same requirements.

It should be noted, in this state, and in the majority of jurisdictions, exemplary or punitive damages are not recoverable in the absence of proof of actual damages.