Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Defamation Act 2005 - SECT 11

Choice of law for defamation proceedings

11. Choice of law for defamation proceedings



(1) If a matter is published wholly within a particular Australian
jurisdictional area, the substantive law that is applicable in that area must
be applied in this jurisdiction to determine any cause of action for
defamation based on the publication.

(2) If there is a multiple publication of matter in more than one Australian
jurisdictional area, the substantive law applicable in the Australian
jurisdictional area with which the harm occasioned by the publication as a
whole has its closest connection must be applied in this jurisdiction to
determine each cause of action for defamation based on the publication.

(3) In determining the Australian jurisdictional area with which the harm
occasioned by a publication of matter has its closest connection, a court may
take into account-

   (a)  the place at the time of publication where the plaintiff was
        ordinarily resident or, in the case of a corporation that may assert a
        cause of action for defamation, the place where the corporation had
        its principal place of business at that time; and

   (b)  the extent of publication in each relevant Australian jurisdictional
        area; and

   (c)  the extent of harm sustained by the plaintiff in each relevant
        Australian jurisdictional area; and

   (d)  any other matter that the court considers relevant.

(4) For the purposes of this section, the substantive law applicable in an
Australian jurisdictional area does not include any law prescribing rules for
choice of law that differ from the rules prescribed by this section.

(5) In this section-

Australian jurisdictional area means-

   (a)  the geographical area of Australia that lies within the territorial
        limits of a particular State (including its coastal waters), but not
        including any territory, place or other area referred to in paragraph
        (c); or

   (b)  the geographical area of Australia that lies within the territorial
        limits of a particular Territory (including its coastal waters), but
        not including any territory, place or other area referred to in
        paragraph (c); or

   (c)  any territory, place or other geographical area of Australia over
        which the Commonwealth has legislative competence but over which no
        State or Territory has legislative competence; geographical area of
        Australia includes-

   (a)  the territorial sea of Australia; and

   (b)  the external Territories of the Commonwealth; multiple publication
        means publication by a particular person of the same, or substantially
        the same, matter in substantially the same form to 2 or more persons.
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