Criminal liability for committing a civil law offence in Australia can be imposed up to three years in prison.
The offences include:The 10 most commonly criminalised civil law offences in Australia are:For more information on criminal liability, visit our Criminal Law section.
Civil law offences can be prosecuted in a number of different ways.
These include:Criminal defamation: defamation that is likely to cause serious damage to a person’s reputation or reputation of the person(s) defamed.
Defamation can be punishable by a fine or imprisonment.
In this case, the defamation must have been published online or in print.
The person or persons defamed may also have a defence of constructive notice and the person defamed will not have to prove the defamatory content.
The publication of a defamated article does not necessarily lead to criminal liability.
Criminal liability can be assessed for a number different offences including:The criminal penalty for criminal defamation is $5,000 to $10,000, but can be reduced to a fine of up to $1000.
If the defamation relates to a matter that involves a public figure, such as a member of parliament, a judge can impose a lesser penalty of $500 to $1,000.
The offence of defamating a person or thing for commercial advantage is not a civil action.
Consequences for civil actions include:Civil penalties for defamations are also available for breach of a person, animal or plant licence, breach of the Australian Human Rights Act or breach of another Commonwealth Act or law.
The maximum penalty for civil liability for breaching a person and/or plant licence is $10 million.
For more criminal law information, visit the Criminal Law sections of Fox Sports and the ABC’s Legal References section.