Speakers

John Campbell Barrister 4–5 Gray’s Inn Square, United Kingdom

John Campbell practises at the Bar from 4–5 Gray’s Inn Square in London and Duma Nokwe Chambers in Johannesburg (where he is Senior Counsel). He regularly appears in media litigation, and has been instructed as counsel in some of the biggest and most high profile cases involving defamation and privacy in South Africa. He regularly appears in trial and appellate courts in both the United Kingdom and South Africa, in cases involving media law, constitutional law, competition law, administrative law, tort / delict, tax and regulatory law. He has published in the fields of public law and defamation, and has acted as a judge in South Africa from time to time, starting in 2008.

The law of defamation in flux: Fault and the contemporary commonwealth accommodation of the right to reputation with the right of free expression

John Campbell argues that the new Commonwealth defence in Defamation—of reasonable or responsible publication—in reality re-introduces fault as an element of defamation. A full and express recognition of this will greatly simplify defamation law, bring about far greater transparency and remove the uncertainty inherent in defences such as fair comment and truth that depend so much on (often difficult) questions of interpretation.