Hollingsworth v Hewitt

The case of *Hollingsworth v Hewitt* concerned an application by the plaintiff, the Mayor of Mullumbimby, for special leave to appeal from decisions of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The plaintiff had commenced an action for libel against the defendant, the proprietor of the *Northern Star* newspaper, concerning a published letter. The plaintiff sought an order under section 11 of the *Defamation (Amendment) Act 1909* (NSW) directing the defendant to disclose the name and address of the person who supplied the defamatory letter.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether a plaintiff is automatically entitled to an order compelling a newspaper proprietor to reveal the identity of an article's author under section 11 of the *Defamation (Amendment) Act 1909* (NSW), or if such an order is discretionary. The plaintiff contended that knowing the writer's identity was inherently advantageous and could be evidence of malice, thus entitling them to the information as of right.

The High Court, affirming the decisions below, held that section 11 of the Act did not grant an entitlement to the requested information as a matter of course. Instead, the provision vested a discretion in the judge to order disclosure. The Court reasoned that a plaintiff must adduce a positive reason or demonstrate some disadvantage in conducting the action without the information. As no such special circumstances were proven or alleged by the plaintiff in this instance, the application was rightly refused.