Practitioners seeking disclosure of a newspaper article's author under s 11 of the Defamation (Amendment) Act must adduce positive reasons or special circumstances in support of the application; the order is not available as of course.
Hollingsworth Plaintiff, Appellant; and Hewitt Respondent.
H C of A
On appeal from the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
17 August 1911
Griffith C.J., Barton and O'Connor JJ.
Sheridan, for the appellant.
Griffith C.J.
The learned Judges of the Supreme Court have held that an appeal did not lie from the decision of Ferguson J. That raises a question of considerable interest and importance which, however, it is not necessary to determine, as, in my opinion, the plaintiff's application to the learned Judge was rightly refused. A plaintiff is not entitled as of course to be supplied by the proprietor of a newspaper with the name and address of the writer of an article under sec. 11 of the Defamation (Amendment) Act. Some positive reason must be adduced in support of the application; and it is then a matter for the discretion of the Judge whether the order should be made. I agree that in this case, as no special circumstances were proved or alleged, the application was rightly refused.
Barton J., and
O'Connor J.,
concurred.
Application refused.
Solicitor, for appellant, P. Street (Murwillumbah), by Villeneuve Smith & Dawes.