Dear Colleagues;

In a slightly early Christmas present to the media (which is not to say it is wrong!), the Supreme Court of Canada in Grant v.  Torstar Corp., 2009 SCC 61 (22 Dec 2009) http://scc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/2009/2009scc61/2009scc61.html has created a new defamation defence of "responsible communication on matters of public interest". The defence was also applied in another decision handed down on the same day- Quan v. Cusson, 2009 SCC 62 (December 22, 2009) http://scc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/2009/2009scc62/2009scc62.html. Effectively the new defence mirrors developments in Australia (in the formulation of a qualified privilege defence relating to communication on government and political issues in Lange) and the UK ("responsible journalism" as explained in Reynolds and Jameel). But it is also explicitly grounded, of course, in the Charter right of freedom of speech.

A merry Christmas to all!

Neil F

Neil Foster

Senior Lecturer & LLB Program Convenor

School of Law

Faculty of Business & Law

University of Newcastle

Callaghan NSW 2308

AUSTRALIA

ph 02 4921 7430

fax 02 4921 6931