"Malice, in
common acceptation, means ill will against a 486*486 person, but
in its legal sense it means a
wrongful act, done intentionally, without just cause or excuse.
If I give a perfect stranger a blow likely to produce death, I
do it of malice, because I do it intentionally and
without just cause or excuse. If I maim cattle, without knowing
whose they are, if I poison a fishery, without knowing the
owner, I do it of malice, because it is a wrongful act,
and done intentionally. If I am arraigned of felony, and
willfully stand mute, I am said to do it of malice,
because it is intentional and without just cause or excuse. And
if I traduce a man, whether I know him or not and whether I
intend to do him an injury or not, I apprehend the law considers
it as done of malice, because it is wrongful and intentional. It
equally works an injury, whether I meant to produce an injury or
not. . . ."
[Bromage v. Prosser, 4 Barn. & Cres. 247]
Tinker v. Colwell, 193 US 473, 485-7 - Supreme Court 1904
`Malice,' in law, simply means a depraved inclination on the part of a person to disregard the rights of others, which intent is manifested 487*487 by his injurious acts. While it may be true that in his unlawful act Freche was not actuated by hatred or revenge or passion towards the plaintiff, nevertheless, if he acted wantonly against what any man of reasonable intelligence must have known to be contrary to his duty, and purposely prejudicial and injurious to another, the law will imply malice."
[Tinker v. Colwell, 193 US 473, 485-7 - Supreme Court 1904]