Matthew Collins is a practising barrister in Melbourne, Australia. He is also a former solicitor, litigator, lecturer, specialist in defamation and academic with a PhD in law, so it is no surprise to find that he has written an academic review, a students’ textbook and a practitioners’ handbook all in one. The outcome is a long-overdue authoritative book which is the first of its kind devoted entirely to the subject of internet defamation from the perspective of English law.

I use the term English law in its broadest sense, since this book does have one significant drawback, which is understandable given the author’s domicile, in that it deals extensively and simultaneously both with English and Australian law. Given the global nature of the internet, multi-jurisdictional issues arise in almost every case in which defamatory material is disseminated via that medium. As a result, any competent book on the subject, whatever its backbone law might be, must adequately focus upon the relevant law in other major jurisdictions, and in particular the US. This book deals admirably and sufficiently with the US and also includes measured quantities of Scottish, New Zealand and European Union law.