Russell a été appelé “Pastor” après que la congrégation de Pittsburgh l’eut élu son pasteur en 1882 et que, selon le récit de l’organisation, quelque 500 autres congrégations aux États-Unis et en Grande-Bretagne eurent fait de même. Lorsque son action en diffamation contre le Brooklyn Daily Eagle est parvenue devant l’Appellate Division de New York en 1915, la cour l’a décrit comme “an unordained preacher”.

“In view of the pastoral work that he was doing under the Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ, certain congregations acknowledged by vote that he was their pastor. It was not a self-assumed title. The first group to vote him their pastor was the congregation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1882. Thereafter, he was voted pastor by some 500 other congregations, in the United States and Britain. ... Today, Christian elders among Jehovah's Witnesses are not elected by local congregations but are appointed by the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses. Care is also exercised not to use expressions such as “pastor” or “elder” as titles.”

“The plaintiff was the editor of a publication purporting to be devoted to a religious propaganda. In it he informed his sympathetic readers that one of his associates had accumulated Miracle wheat, which the associate was disposed to sell to the readers of that publication for one dollar a pound. The associate promised to give the entire proceeds to a corporation organized and controlled by the plaintiff. In the article it was represented that the yield of Miracle wheat was ten or fifteen times as great as the yield of common wheat. The record offered in evidence tended to show, as the result of governmental experiment, that Miracle wheat was no more prolific than brands of wheat in general use and of ordinary quality. There was independent evidence that other wheats could be purchased at prices so low in comparison as to make the advertised price of Miracle wheat exorbitant.”