4No action for publishing Parliamentary Papers

4 No action for publishing Parliamentary Papers

(1) No action or proceeding, civil or criminal, shall lie against any person for publishing any document or evidence published under an authority given in pursuance of section 2 or deemed by section 3 to have been given. (2) The defendant, in any action or prosecution commenced in respect of the publication of any document or evidence published under an authority given in pursuance of section 2 or deemed by section 3 to have been given, may bring before the court in which the action or prosecution is pending or before any judge thereof, first giving twenty‑four hours’ notice of his intention so to do to the plaintiff or prosecutor, a certificate under the hand of the President or Clerk of the Senate, the Speaker or Clerk of the House of Representatives, or the Chairman of the Committee, as the case requires, or, in the case of a document or evidence published under an authority given or deemed to have been given by a joint sitting, a certificate under the hand of the person who presided at the joint sitting, the Clerk of the Senate or the Clerk of the House of Representatives, stating that the document or evidence in respect of which the action or prosecution has been commenced was published under that authority, together with an affidavit verifying the certificate, and the court or judge shall thereupon immediately stay the action or prosecution and may order the plaintiff or prosecutor to pay the defendant his costs of defence.