Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Judicial Proceedings Reports Act 1958 - SECT 3

Restriction on publication of reports of judicial proceedings

3. Restriction on publication of reports of judicial proceedings



(1) It shall not be lawful to print or publish or cause or procure to be
printed or published-

   (a)  in relation to any judicial proceedings any indecent matter or
        indecent medical surgical or physiological details being matter or
        details the publication of which would be calculated to injure public
        morals; or

   (b)  in relation to any judicial proceedings for dissolution of marriage,
        for nullity of marriage, for judicial separation, or for restitution
        of conjugal rights, any particulars other than the following, that is
        to say-

   (i)  the names addresses and occupations of the parties and witnesses;

   (ii) a concise statement of the charges defences and counter-charges in
        support of which evidence has been given;

   (iii) submissions on any point of law arising in the course of the
        proceedings and the decision of the court or judge thereon;

   (iv) the summing-up of the judge and the finding of the jury (if any) and
        the judgment of the court and observations made by the judge in giving
        judgment:
Provided that nothing in paragraph (b) of this subsection shall be held to
permit the publication of anything contrary to the provisions of paragraph (a)
of this subsection; or

   (c)  except as provided in this section in relation to a hearing under
        section 5 of the Crimes (Criminal Trials) Act 1993, any matters other
        than-

   (i)  the identity of the court and name of the judge constituting it;

   (ii) the names, ages, home addresses and occupations of the accused and
        witnesses;

   (iii) any relevant business information;

   (iv) the offence or offences, or a summary of it or them;

   (v)  the names of Australian legal practitioners (within the meaning of the
        Legal Profession Act 2004) engaged in the proceeding;

   (vi) if the proceeding is adjourned, the date and place to which it is
        adjourned and bail arrangements on the adjournment.

(1A) The following is relevant business information for the purposes of
subsection (1)(c)(iii)-

   (a)  any address used by the accused for carrying on a business on the
        accused's own account;

   (b)  the name of any business which the accused was carrying on, on the
        accused's own account, at the time when events giving rise to the
        charge or charges occurred;

   (c)  the name and address of any firm in which the accused was a partner at
        that time or by which at that time the accused was engaged under a
        contract of service or a contract for services;

   (d)  the name and address of the registered or principal office of any
        company of which the accused was a director at that time or by which
        at that time the accused was engaged under a contract of service or a
        contract for services;

   (e)  any working address of the accused in his or her capacity as a person
        engaged by a company referred to in paragraph (d).

(1B) At a hearing under section 5 of the Crimes (Criminal Trials) Act 1993,
the court may, on the application of the accused or, if there are more than
one, any one of the accused, order that subsection (1)(c) shall not apply to
reports of that hearing.

(1C) If an accused is not represented by a legal practitioner at a hearing
referred to in subsection (1B), the court must explain to the accused the
restrictions imposed by subsection (1)(c) and inform the accused about the
court's power under subsection (1B).

(1D) If a hearing at which an order has been made under subsection (1B) is
adjourned, the court must, on resuming the hearing, announce that the order
has been made.

(1E) It is not unlawful under this section to print or publish or cause or
procure to be printed or published any matter relating to a hearing referred
to in subsection (1)(c) after the conclusion of the trial of the person
charged or of the last of the persons charged to be tried.

(2) It shall not be lawful to sell distribute or give away or cause or procure
to be sold distributed or given away or to have in possession for sale
distribution or giving away any newspaper or document (whether printed or
published in Victoria or elsewhere) containing or purporting to contain any
matter or details or particulars the printing or publication of which would if
the newspaper or document were printed or published in Victoria be a
contravention of the provisions of this section. For the purposes of this
subsection newspaper and document have respectively the like meanings as in
section 1.3 of the Gambling Regulation Act 2003.

(3) If any person acts in contravention of the provisions of subsection (1) or
of subsection (2) of this section such person shall in respect of each offence
be liable if a corporation to a penalty of not more than 50 penalty units and
if any other person to a penalty of not more than 20 penalty units or to
imprisonment for a term of not more than four months or to both such penalty
and imprisonment:

Provided that no person other than a proprietor, editor, master printer or
publisher shall be liable to be convicted under subsection (1) of this
section: Provided further that where a person who is guilty of any offence
under this section is a corporation, any person being a member of the
governing body, director, manager, or secretary of such corporation shall be
deemed to have committed the like offence and be liable to the pecuniary
penalty or imprisonment or both provided by this Act in the case of such an
offence by a person other than a corporation accordingly, unless he proves
that the act or omission constituting the offence took place without his
knowledge or consent.

(4) No prosecution for an offence under this section shall be commenced by any
person without the sanction of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

(5) Nothing in this section shall apply to the printing selling distributing
giving away or having in possession of any pleading, transcript of evidence or
other document for use in connexion with any judicial proceedings or the
communication thereof to persons concerned in the proceedings, or to the
printing or publishing of any notice or report in pursuance of the directions
of the adjudicating magistrate or judge or court; or to the printing
publishing selling distributing giving away or having in possession of any
matter in any separate volume or part of any bona fide series of law reports
which does not form part of any other publication and consists solely of
reports of proceedings in courts of law, or in any publication of a technical
character bona fide intended for circulation among members of the legal or
medical professions.

(6) In this Act judicial proceedings means judicial proceedings whether in
Victoria or elsewhere.

(7) This section shall be read and construed as in aid and not in derogation
of the provisions of section 66 of the Maintenance Act 1965.