“ A particular form of defamation was scandalum magnatum, “slander of great men,” words, that is, spoken defaming a peer spiritual or temporal, judge or dignitary of the realm. Action lay for such defamation under the statutes of 3 Edw. I. c. 34, 2 Rich. II. c. 5, and 12 Rich. II. c. 11 whereby damages could be recovered, even in cases where no action would lie, if the defamation were of an ordinary subject, and that without proof of special damage. ”