Schmelzer:
The English and American legal systems, with which you may not be familiar, typically use what is referred to as a "reasonable person" test. There is no guessing at intention or possible evil intent. Nor is there a black-letter approach that says utterance A is wrongful, while utterance A', using a slightly different form of words, is acceptable. Instead, the law asks how an "average" reasonable person would be likely to interpret the words as written.
The English and American legal systems, with which you may not be familiar, typically use what is referred to as a "reasonable person" test. There is no guessing at intention or possible evil intent. Nor is there a black-letter approach that says utterance A is wrongful, while utterance A', using a slightly different form of words, is acceptable. Instead, the law asks how an "average" reasonable person would be likely to interpret the words as written.