REGISTRAR OF THE COURT OF APPEAL v JOHN FAIRFAX GROUP PTY LTD [1993] NSWCA 229

REGISTRAR OF THE COURT OF APPEAL v JOHN FAIRFAX GROUP PTY LTD

SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL

MAHONEY, PRIESTLEY and SHELLER JJA 16 and 17 February 1993, 21 April 1993 [1993] NSWCA 229

The second opponent, a journalist employed by the first opponent, researched, wrote, and submitted for publication an article attacking the credibility of an important defence witness in a criminal trial. The article was published in the first opponent's newspaper during the trial. The first opponent pleaded guilty and the second opponent not guilty to charges of contempt of court "in that [they] caused to be published.... matter which was likely to interfere with the administration of justice... ". There was evidence that the second opponent knew that the trial was continuing, expected that the article would be published before the end of the trial, but believed that the article would be checked by the first opponent's lawyers before publication. It was never submitted to the first opponent's lawyers.

Held: The First Opponent

1. The publication of the article was a serious contempt resulting from the first opponent's defective system of control; a penalty sufficiently severe to act as a deterrent would be appropriate.

The Second Opponent

2. (Mahoney and Sheller JJA) The second opponent, in preparing a contemptuous article and submitting it for publication in the expectation that it would be published during the trial, sufficiently caused the publication, and was consequently in contempt of court when it was so published.

(Priestley JA, dissenting). The second opponent's intention was that the article should be published after legal checking and not in the form in which she had written it if that were contemptuous, so the case against her was not proved.

District Court Act 1973

Her Majesty's Attorney General for New South Wales v Radio 2UE Sydney Pty Ltd and Jones (Court of Appeal, 28 August 1992, unreported)