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Defamation And Vilification: Rights To Reputation, Free Speech And Freedom Of Religion At Common Law And Under Human Rights Laws, Neil J. Foster

Neil J Foster

For many years the common law of defamation, and statutory amendments to it, have protected a person’s reputation in the community, in the sense of the right not be denigrated in the eyes of others. While this involves a restriction on another powerful common law principle of “freedom of speech” (see the discussion in the High Court of Australia decision in Australian Broadcasting Corporation v O’Neill (2006) 227 CLR 57), a complex set of checks and balances have been developed to cope with this clash. The issues as to whether a person has a right not to be “vilified” (and …