Civil Trials Bench Book — Preliminaries

Acknowledgements

Judicial Officers and the Judicial Commission of New South Wales

This Bench Book was produced by the Judicial Commission of New South Wales.

The Commission thanks all the members of the Civil Trials Bench Book Committee for the generous donation of their time, support, energy, expertise and diligent advice:

  • The Honourable Justice Peter Garling RFD, Supreme Court (Chair)

  • The Honourable Justice Rowan Darke, Supreme Court

  • The Honourable Justice Richard Weinstein, Supreme Court

  • His Honour Judge Andrew Coleman SC, District Court

  • His Honour Judge Matthew Dicker SC, District Court

  • Her Honour Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson, Local Court

  • Her Honour Magistrate Megan Greenwood, Local Court

  • Ms Una Doyle, Chief Executive, Judicial Commission

Authors

We wish to thank each of the following consultant authors and former members of the Civil Trials Bench Book Committee for their valuable contribution:

  • The Honourable James Wood AO QC

  • The Honourable David Hunt AO QC

  • The Honourable John Dunford QC

  • The Honourable Justice Cliff Hoeben AM RFD, Supreme Court

  • The Honourable Justice John Hislop, Supreme Court

  • The Honourable Hal Sperling QC

  • The Honourable Michael Campbell QC

  • Her Honour Judge Margaret Sidis

  • His Honour Judge Nigel Rein SC

  • His Honour Judge Peter Johnstone

  • His Honour Magistrate Brian Lulham

  • His Honour Magistrate Hugh Dillon

  • His Honour Magistrate David Heilpern, Local Court

  • His Honour Magistrate Christopher O’Brien, Local Court (as he then was)

  • His Honour Judge Garry Neilson, District Court

  • The Honourable Justice François Kunc, Supreme Court

  • His Honour Judge Ross Letherbarrow SC, District Court

We also wish to thank the following authors:

Chapter 2 — Procedure generally

  • The Honourable Justice P Biscoe, Land and Environment Court

  • Her Honour Judge L Ashford, District Court

  • Her Honour Judge J Gibson, District Court

  • His Honour Judge G Neilson, District Court

  • His Honour Judge M Dicker SC, District Court

  • Ms Kate Lumley, Judicial Commission

Chapter 4 — Evidence

  • The Honourable D Hunt AO QC, Consultant

  • The Honourable A Whealy QC, Consultant

Chapter 5 — Particular proceedings

  • Mr C Wood, Wentworth Chambers

  • His Honour Judge L Levy, District Court

  • Her Honour Judge J Gibson, District Court

  • The Honourable Justice P Brereton AM RFD, Supreme Court

  • The Honourable Justice D Davies, Supreme Court

  • The Honourable Justice P McClellan AM, Supreme Court

  • The Honourable A Whealy QC, Consultant

  • His Honour Judge P Johnstone, President of the Children’s Court

  • The Honourable M Campbell QC, Consultant

  • The Honourable Justice C Adamson, Supreme Court

  • His Honour Judge M Dicker SC, District Court

  • Her Honour Judge L Ashford, District Court

  • His Honour Judge G Neilson, District Court

Chapter 6 — Personal injuries

  • His Honour Judge A Scotting, District Court

Chapter 7 — Damages

  • Her Honour M Sidis, Consultant

  • His Honour Judge A Scotting, District Court

Chapter 8 — Costs

  • His Honour Justice P Brereton, AM RFD, NSW Court of Appeal

Chapter 10 — Contempt

  • Mr D Norris, Crown Solicitors Office (NSW)

Legal Publishers

The Commission also wishes to thank the contributors to, and publishers of:

  • J Anderson, N Williams and L Clegg, The New Law of Evidence: annotation and commentary on the Uniform Evidence Acts, (2nd edn), LexisNexis Butterworths, Australia, 2009

  • Australian Law Reform Commission, Evidence (Interim), ALRC Report 26, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1985

  • Australian Law Reform Commission, ALRC Report 38, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra

  • Australian Law Reform Commission, Uniform Evidence Law, ALRC Report 102, NSWLRC Report 112, VLRC Final Report, 2005

  • K Barker, P Cane, M Lunney and F Trindade, The Law of Torts In Australia, 5th edn, Oxford University Press, Australia and New Zealand, 2011

  • P Blazey and P Gillies, “Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in China”, International Journal of Private Law, Macquarie University, 2008

  • P Biscoe, Mareva and Anton Piller Orders: Freezing and Search Orders, LexisNexis Butterworths, Australia, 2005

  • G Dal Pont, Law of Costs, 2nd edn, LexisNexis, Sydney, 2009

  • E Finnane et al, Equity Practice and Precedents, Thomson Reuters, 2008

  • J Fleming, Law of Torts, 9th edn, LBC Information Services, Sydney, 1998

  • J Hamilton and G Lindsay (eds), NSW Civil Practice and Procedure, Thomson Reuters, Australia, 2005

  • P Handford, Limitation of Actions: The Laws of Australia, 2012, 3rd edn, Thomson Reuters, Australia

  • M Collins, Law of Defamation and the Internet, 3rd ed, Oxford University Press, 2010

  • J Heydon, Cross on Evidence, 13th edn, LexisNexis Butterworths, Australia, 2019

  • N Williams, J Anderson, J Marychurch and J Roy, Uniform Evidence Law in Australia, 2nd ed, LexisNexis Butterworths, 2018

  • S Odgers, Uniform Evidence Law, 13th edn, Thomson Reuters, Australia, 2018

  • P George, Defamation Law in Australia, 2nd ed, LexisNexis, Sydney, 2012

  • P Taylor (ed), Ritchie’s Uniform Civil Procedure, LexisNexis Butterworths, Australia, 2006

  • P Milmo QC et al, Gatley on Libel and Slander, 11th ed, Sweet & Maxwell, London, 2010

  • P McClellan, “New Method with Experts – Concurrent Evidence” (2010) 3 Journal of Court Innovation 259, at https://www.nycourts.gov/court-innovation/Winter-2010/jciMcClellan.pdf, accessed 24 January 2013

  • A Kelly and N Walker, The Mortgage Stress Handbook, Legal Aid NSW and the Financial Rights Legal Centre Inc, 4th edn, Sydney, 2019

  • R E Brown, Brown on Defamation (Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand United States), 2nd ed, Carswell, Canada, 1994–

  • D Rolph, “Irreconcilable Differences? Interlocutory injunctions for defamation and privacy” (2012) 17 Media and Arts Law Review 170-200

  • T K Tobin QC, M G Sexton SC SG, J C Gibson DCJ (Bulletin author), S Hatfield (editor, LexisNexis), Australian Defamation Law and Practice, LexisNexis, Sydney, 1991–

  • NSW Law Reform Commission, Protecting privacy in NSW, Report 127, 2010; Access to personal information, Report 126, 2010; Privacy principles, Report 123, 2009 and other reports on defamation and privacy issues (see www.lawreform.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/Publications/Reports/Report-127.pdf, accessed 14 February 2013)

  • NSW Law Reform Commission, Security for costs and associated costs orders, Report 137, 2012, at www.lawreform.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/Publications/Reports/Report-137.pdf, accessed 8 November 2019

  • Australian Law Reform Commission, Unfair Publication: Defamation and Privacy, ALRC Report 11, 1979 and For Your Information: Australian Privacy Law and Practice, ALRC Report 108, 2008 at www.alrc.gov.au/publications/report-108, accessed 14 February 2013

  • Report of the Independent Inquiry into the Media and Media Regulation, led by the former Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, Mr Ray Finkelstein QC, which was reported to the Australian Government on 28 February 2012, accessed 14 July 2023

  • The Leveson Inquiry: Culture, Practice and Ethics of the Press, led by Lord Justice Leveson accessed 8 November 2019

  • International Forum for Responsible Media, Inforrm Blog, Table of Media Law cases, at http://inforrm.wordpress.com/table-of-cases-2/, accessed 8 November 2019

  • Children’s Court of NSW website, including editions of Children’s Law News, at www.childrenscourt.justice.nsw.gov.au/, accessed 1 November 2013

  • Children’s Court CaseLaw, at www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au, accessed 8 November 2019

  • Judicial Commission of New South Wales, Children’s Court of NSW Resource Handbook, 2013, accessed 8 November 2019

  • The Hon J Wood, Report of the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in NSW, November 2008, accessed 8 November 2019

  • His Hon M Marien SC, Care Proceedings and Appeals to the District Court, Judicial Commission of NSW, District Court of NSW Annual Conference, April 2011, NSW. (This conference paper is available to judicial officers on the conference paper database through JIRS.)

  • M Aronson, M Groves and G Weeks, Judicial Review of Administrative Action and Government Liability, 6th edn, Thomson Reuters, 2017

Production staff

We wish to thank the following Judicial Commission staff:

  • Ms Kate Lumley, Manager, Publications and Communications

  • Ms Tamsin Janu, Senior Legal Editor

  • Ms Anne Murphy, Senior Legal Editor

  • Ms Dominique Cornelia, Solutions Architect