ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the concept of an anonymous plaintiff in a defamation trial is challenging for a number of reasons. It canvasses applications for anonymity in defamation claims as determined by English, Australian and Canadian courts. The chapter contains the starting point for a consideration of anonymity in defamation is necessarily the principle of open justice. This chapter also explains that there have been attempts by plaintiffs in Australian defamation cases to proceed anonymously. The principle of open justice and the nature of defamation proceedings, on the one hand, and the vulnerability of children and the right to privacy, on the other, arose starkly in the Canadian decision of AB v Bragg Communications Inc. The issue of anonymity in defamation claims has also arisen recently in the English decision in ZAM v CFW. The chapter concluded by allowing a plaintiff in such predicated on a more nuanced and realistic account of defamation law than the formal principles suggest.
