South Australian Consolidated Acts South Australian Consolidated ActsSchedule 1—Related amendments and transitional provisions
Part
1—Preliminary
In this Schedule, a provision under a heading referring to the amendment of a
specified Act amends the Act so specified.
Part 2—Amendment of Civil Liability Act 1936
2—Amendment of section 3—Interpretation
Section 3, definition of newspaper —delete the definition
Part 2—delete the Part
Part 3—Amendment of Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935
4—Amendment of section 257—Criminal defamation
Section 257(2)—after "if the person charged would" insert:
, having regard only to the circumstances happening before or at the time of
the publication,
Part 4—Amendment of Evidence Act 1929
Section 33—delete the section and substitute:
33—Discovery in action for defamation
(1) A person who is
required to answer a question, or to discover or produce a document or thing,
in civil proceedings for defamation is not excused from answering the question
or discovering or producing the document or thing on the ground that the
answer to the question or the discovery or production of the document or thing
might tend to incriminate the person of an offence.
(2) However, any
answer given to a question, or document or thing discovered or produced, by a
natural person in compliance with the requirement is not admissible in
evidence against the person in any other action or proceedings.
Part 5—Amendment of Limitation of Actions Act 1936
Section 37—delete the section and substitute:
37—Defamation proceedings generally to be commenced within 1 year
(1) An action on a
cause of action for defamation is not maintainable if brought after the end of
a limitation period of 1 year running from the date of the publication of the
matter complained of.
(2) However, a court
must, if satisfied that it was not reasonable in the circumstances for the
plaintiff to have commenced an action in relation to the matter complained of
within 1 year from the date of the publication, extend the limitation period
mentioned in subsection (1) to a period of up to 3 years running from the
date of the publication (but no further extension is to be allowed under any
other provision of this Act).
Part 6—Transitional provisions
7—Savings, transitional and other provisions relating to this Act
(1) This Act applies
to the publication of defamatory matter on or after the commencement of this
Act, unless subsection (2) provides otherwise.
(2) The provisions of
this Act (other than this section) do not apply to a cause of action for the
publication of defamatory matter that accrues after the commencement of this
Act (the post-commencement cause of action ) if—
(a) the
post-commencement cause of action is one of 2 or more causes of action in
proceedings commenced by a plaintiff; and
(b) each
cause of action in the proceedings accrues because of the publication of the
same, or substantially the same, matter on separate occasions (whether by the
same defendant or another defendant); and
(c) one
or more of the other causes of action in the proceedings accrued before the
commencement of this Act (a pre-commencement cause of action ); and
(d) the
post-commencement cause of action accrued no later than 12 months after the
date on which the earliest pre-commencement cause of action in the proceedings
accrued.
(3) The existing law
of defamation continues to apply to the following causes of action in the same
way as it would have applied to those causes of action had this Act not been
enacted:
(a) any
cause of action that accrued before the commencement of this Act;
(b) any
post-commencement cause of action to which the other provisions of this Act do
not apply because of subsection (2).
(4) In this
section—
existing law of defamation means the law (including all relevant statutory
provisions and principles and rules of the general law) that applied in this
jurisdiction to the determination of civil liability for the publication of
defamatory matter immediately before the commencement of this Act.
8—Application of amendments to Limitation of Actions Act 1936
(1) Section 37 of
the Limitation of Actions Act 1936 as re-enacted by Part 5 clause 6
of this Schedule (the substituted section ) applies to the publication of
defamatory matter on or after the commencement of that section, unless
subclause (2) provides otherwise.
(2) The provisions of
the substituted section do not apply to a cause of action for the publication
of defamatory matter that accrues after the commencement of that section (the
post-commencement cause of action ) if—
(a) the
post-commencement cause of action is one of 2 or more causes of action in
proceedings commenced by a plaintiff; and
(b) each
cause of action in the proceedings accrues because of the publication of the
same, or substantially the same, matter on separate occasions (whether by the
same defendant or another defendant); and
(c) one
or more of the other causes of action in the proceedings accrued before the
commencement of the substituted section (a pre-commencement cause of action );
and
(d) the
post-commencement cause of action accrued no later than 12 months after the
date on which the earliest pre-commencement cause of action in the proceedings
accrued.
(3) The existing
limitation law continues to apply to the following causes of action in the
same way as it would have applied to those causes of action had the
substituted section not been enacted:
(a) any
cause of action that accrued before the commencement of the substituted
section;
(b) any
post-commencement cause of action to which the substituted section does not
apply because of subclause (2).
(4) In this
clause—
existing limitation law means the provisions of the
Limitation of Actions Act 1936 that applied in relation to the limitation
period for defamation actions immediately before the commencement of the
substituted section.