By Dr Anton van Dellen, Barrister, Fraser Chambers &
Dr Samrat Sengupta, Pupil Barrister, Fraser Chambers
The Defamation Act 2013 (“the Act”) marked an attempt to codify some of the pre-existing common law. However, this process has been criticised as potentially introducing further uncertainty. Some of the key areas where further complexities arose are in two of the available defences.
This article will specifically look at two cases which highlight the Court’s approach to two key defences. Prior to analysing the cases, it is important to underscore that the Act, in the interest of the public purse and cost management, felt it was prudent to remove jury trials in defamation cases. Some of the cases described below may potentially have been better addressed by jury trials than by a ju...
Become a subscriber to read this article. Sign up today for just $5.99 per month. Click on SUBSCRIBE to sign up. You can cancel anytime if you are not satisfied.