''Lange v Atkinson''
997
Year 997 (Roman numerals, CMXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Japan
* 1 February: Empress Teishi gives birth to Princess Shushi - she is the first ...
2 NZLR 22 (HC),
998
Year 998 ( CMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* Spring – Otto III retakes Rome and restores power in the papal city. Crescenti ...
3 NZLR 424 (CA),
000
Triple zero, Triple Zero, Zero Zero Zero, Triple 0, Triple-0, 000, or 0-0-0 may refer to:
* 000 (emergency telephone number), the Australian emergency telephone number
* "Triple Zero", a song by AFI (band), AFI from ''Shut Your Mouth and Open Your ...
1 NZLR 257 (PC),
000
Triple zero, Triple Zero, Zero Zero Zero, Triple 0, Triple-0, 000, or 0-0-0 may refer to:
* 000 (emergency telephone number), the Australian emergency telephone number
* "Triple Zero", a song by AFI (band), AFI from ''Shut Your Mouth and Open Your ...
3 NZLR 385 is a cited case in New Zealand regarding
defamation
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
claims in
tort
A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...
.
Background
Joe Atkinson, a political columnist, wrote an article critical of Former Prime Minister
David Lange
David Russell Lange ( ; 4 August 1942 – 13 August 2005) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 32nd prime minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989.
Lange was born and brought up in Otahuhu, the son of a medical doctor. He became ...
and the 4th Labour Government which was published in the October 1995 issue of
''North & South'' magazine.
Lange found the article defamatory, and sued Atkinson, and the magazines publisher ACP for defamation, upon which they filed a defence of qualified privilege.
Lange spent the next 4 years trying to get their defence struck out.
The Court of Appeal's final hearing in Lange v Atkinson (No. 2) remains the leading case on the law of qualified privilege in New Zealand and affirmed that qualified privilege extends to publications concerning the conduct of publicly elected officeholders and those seeking such office.
See also
Besides featuring in NZ case law for defamation, David Lange also featured in Australian defamation case law in ''
Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation
''Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation''. is a High Court of Australia case that upheld the existence of an implied freedom of political communication in the Constitution of Australia, Australian Constitution, but found that it did not n ...
'' (1997) 189 CLR 520; 145 ALR 96 (HCA).
References
{{reflist
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council cases on appeal from New Zealand
New Zealand tort case law
2000 in New Zealand law
2000 in case law