Law in the Information Age
GENL0230

News:

December 17: there is some chance of a public transport (bus) strike tomorrow. If there is a public transport strike (it is not clear if it will go ahead), you may still be able to get to UNSW to submit the paper as requested. However, if this is impracticable, I regret that email submission will NOT be accepted - as discussed in class, I am not in a position to act as printing secretary for 40-50 people, to accept the extra liability for printing, formatting mistakes, files going missing etc. Hard copy is still required.

If there is a public transport strike, you have not yet submitted, and your are reliant on public transport, I will accept this as a reason for an automatic essay extension until the next day UNSW is open, early January 2010.

Provided you include a cover sheet as required (from the Law faculty site), add a covering letter to the office staff requesting the paper be set aside for my GENL0230 class, and retain an electronic copy in case it gets lost, I presume it would be possible to post it in if you will be absent in January. It would be more reliable however to submit the essay in person.

Core documents

The printed materials for this course contain most of the required reading and details about the assessment.
This page has references to presentations, and some cases.

The Essay questions for the course account for 60% of total marks for one essay of 2500 words. They are available here and handed out in class.

Presentations

As they become available, Powerpoint presentations for certain classes will be posted here.

Defamation cases

Some of the cases listed in the Defamation Law Guide may be hard
to track down, too old or generic. Some interesting additional cases:

Using the Wrong Term
Lenox Hewitt v Queensland Newspapers Pty Limited No. SC283 of 1993 [1995] ACTSC 54
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/act/ACTSC/1995/54.html

Tarring with the same brush
Chakravarti v Advertiser Newspapers Limited [1998] HCA 37
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/1998/37.html

Broadcast Blues
Thompson v Australian Capital Television Pty Ltd & Ors [1996] HCA 38 (10 December 1996)
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/1996/38.html

Other cases which are either legally important or about real life
people and events students may have some familiarity with:

Dow Jones & Company Inc v Gutnick [2002] HCA 56
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/high_ct/2002/56.html

Nationwide News Pty Ltd v Sleeman [2005] NSWCA 349
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/nsw/NSWCA/2005/349.html

John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd v O'Shane [2005] NSWCA 164
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/nsw/NSWCA/2005/164.html

Costello and Abbott v Random House Pty ltd [1999] ACTSC 13 (5 March 1999)
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/act/ACTSC/1999/13.html

Vincenzo Bellino vAustralian Broadcasting Corporation F.C. 96/008 [1995] HCA 34 (20 June 1995)
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/1995/34.html

Contact

For more information contact David Vaile d.vaile [at] unsw.edu.au

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