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DEFAMATION ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1955 - SECT 16

Short title and commencement.

16.(1) This Act may be cited as the Defamation Act (Northern Ireland), 1955,
... Commencement ...

Subs.(2) rep. by SLR 19731. A fair and accurate report of any proceedings in
public of the legislature of any part of Her Majesty's dominions outside
Northern Ireland.

2. A fair and accurate report of any proceedings in public of an international
organisation of which the United Kingdom or Her Majesty's Government in the
United Kingdom is a member, or of any international conference to which that
government sends a representative.

3. A fair and accurate report of any proceedings in public of an
international court.

4. A fair and accurate report of any proceedings before a court exercising
jurisdiction throughout any part of Her Majesty's dominions outside the United
Kingdom, or of any proceedings before a court-martial held outside the United
Kingdom under the Naval Discipline Act, the Army Act or the Air Force Act.

5. A fair and accurate report of any proceedings in public of a body or person
appointed to hold a public inquiry by the government or legislature of any
part of Her Majesty's dominions outside the United Kingdom.

6. A fair and accurate copy of or extract from any register kept in pursuance
of any Act of Parliament which is open to inspection by the public, or of any
other document which is required by the law of any part of the United Kingdom
to be open to inspection by the public.

7. A notice or advertisement published by or on the authority of any court
within the United Kingdom or any judge or officer of such a court.

8. A fair and accurate report of the findings or decision of any of the
following associations, or of any committee or governing body thereof, that is
to say

(a)an association formed in the United Kingdom for the purpose of promoting or
encouraging the exercise of or interest in any art, science, religion or
learning, and empowered by its constitution to exercise control over or
adjudicate upon matters of interest or concern to the association, or the
actions or conduct of any persons subject to such control or adjudication;

(b)an association formed in the United Kingdom for the purpose of promoting or
safeguarding the interests of any trade, business, industry or profession, or
of the persons carrying on or engaged in any trade, business, industry or
profession, and empowered by its constitution to exercise control over or
adjudicate upon matters connected with the trade, business, industry or
profession, or the actions or conduct of those persons;

(c)an association formed in the United Kingdom for the purpose of promoting or
safeguarding the interests of any game, sport or pastime to the playing or
exercise of which members of the public are invited or admitted, and empowered
by its constitution to exercise control over or adjudicate upon persons
connected with or taking part in the game, sport or pastime,

9. A fair and accurate report of the proceedings at any public meeting held in
the United Kingdom, that is to say, a meeting bona fide and lawfully held for
a lawful purpose and for the futherance or discussion of any matter of public
concern, whether the admission to the meeting is general or restricted.

10. A fair and accurate report of the proceedings at any meeting or sitting in
any part of the United Kingdom of

(a) any local authority or committee of a local authority or local
authorities;

(b)any justice or justices of the peace acting otherwise than as a court
exercising judicial authority;

(c)any commission, tribunal, committee or person appointed for the purposes of
any inquiry by Act of Parliament, by Her Majesty, by the Governor or by a
Minister of Northern Ireland or other Minister of the Crown;

(d) any person appointed by a local authority to hold a local inquiry in
pursuance of any Act of Parliament;

(e)any other tribunal, board, committee or body constituted by or under, and
exercising functions under, an Act of Parliament,

11. A fair and accurate report of the proceedings at a general meeting of any
company or association constituted, registered or certified by or under any
Act of Parliament or incorporated by Royal Charter, not being a private
company within the meaning of the Companies Act (Northern Ireland), 1932.

12. A copy or fair and accurate report or summary of any notice or other
matter issued for the information of the public by or on behalf of any
government department, officer of state, local authority or chief officer of
police.

13. In this Schedule the following expressions have the meanings hereby
respectively assigned to them, that is to say

"Act of Parliament" includes an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, and
the reference to the Companies Act (Northern Ireland), 1932, includes a
reference to any corresponding enactment of the Parliament of the United
Kingdom;

"government department" includes a department of the Government of the United
Kingdom;

"international court" means the International Court of Justice and any other
judicial or arbitral tribunal deciding matters in dispute between States;

"legislature", in relation to any territory comprised in Her Majesty's
dominions which is subject to a central and a local legislature, means either
of those legislatures;

"local authority" means any authority or body to which ... [... sections 23 to
27 of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 apply or to which the
Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 applies];

"part of Her Majesty's dominions" means the whole of any territory within
those dominions which is subject to a separate legislature.

14. In relation to the following countries and territories, that is to say,
India, the Republic of Ireland, any protectorate, protected state or trust
territory within the meaning of the British Nationality Act, 1948, any
territory administered under the authority of a country mentioned in
sub-section (3) of section one of that Act, the Sudan and the New Hebrides,
the provisions of this Schedule shall have effect as they have effect in
relation to Her Majesty's dominions, and references therein to Her Majesty's
dominions shall be construed accordingly.

© 1955 Crown Copyright

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