Oz court serves default judgement via Facebook!

Melbourne, December 13 (ANI): Facebook has apparently started to leave its impact on judicial systems also, with the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory ruling that a default judgement can be served on defendants by notification on the social networking website.

This is believed to be the first instance when any court in the world has ordered the use of a social networking website for serving a default judgement on the defendant, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

A default judgement is given by the court where the defendant does not appear in court to defend the case. Once the court awards it, the plaintiff must serve it on the defendant, which is usually done by way of personal service or post.

Service by email is allowed these days, and the court presiding over the recent Sonny Bill Williams and NRL matter even allowed certain court documents to be served by cell phone text messages.

And, lately, Master Harper of the ACT Supreme Court has ordered that the plaintiff in the case could validly serve the defendants, informing them about the entry of and the terms of the judgement, by sending a message by computer to their Facebook pages.

Australian courts are regarded as being amongst the most technologically advanced in the world. (ANI)