Macintosh v Dun

The case of Macintosh v Dun involved a dispute between two hardware merchant firms in Sydney, where the defendants, a trade protection society, published a damaging report about the plaintiffs' commercial standing and financial position in response to a specific inquiry from one of their subscribers. The plaintiffs brought an action for libel against the defendants. The central issue before the court was whether the occasion on which the libel was published was privileged, allowing the defendants to escape liability. The court had to determine if the defendants' actions were motivated by a sense of duty or the general interest of society or if they were driven by self-interest.

The court examined the principles of privileged occasions for communication in the context of the defendants' business operations. It noted that such communications are protected when made in the discharge of a public or private duty or in the conduct of one's own affairs, provided they are free from actual malice. The court found that the defendants' actions were not motivated by a sense of duty or for the general interest of society but rather by self-interest. They carried on their trade with the hope of making a profit by collecting and selling information about other businesses. This motive of self-interest disqualified the occasion from being privileged. The court emphasised that while obtaining accurate information about competitors may be beneficial to traders, the methods used to gather such information could be unfair and detrimental to society.

The court concluded that the defendants' actions did not meet the criteria for a privileged occasion and that the High Court's decision should be reversed. The Privy Council advised that the orders appealed from should be discharged, the judgments of the Full Court reversed, with costs in both courts, including the costs of the cross-appeals, and that any costs already paid by the appellants to the respondents should be repaid by the latter. The respondents were also ordered to pay the costs of the appeal.