Inventor, entrepreneur, rascal, crank or querulent?: Australia's vexatious litigant sanction 75 years on.

Rupert Frederick Millane (1887-1969) was Australia's first declared vexatious litigant, An inventor, entrepreneur, land developer, transport pioneer and self-taught litigator, his extraordinary flood of unsuccessful litigaion in the 1920s led Victoria to introduce the vexatious litigant sanction now available to most Australian superior courts. Once declared, a vexatious litigant cannot issue further legal proceedings without the leave of the court. Standing to seek the order is usually restricted to an Attorney-General. It is used as a sanction of 'last resort'.

But who was Millane and what prompted his declaration in 1930? What does psychiatry have to say about the persistent complainant and vexatious litigant? How often is the sanction used anyway? What is its utility and the nature of the emerging legislative changes? Now, on the 75th anniversary of Millane's declaration, this article examines these issues.

The Making of a Vexatious Litigant

The Early Years

Rupert Frederick Millane, inventor, entrepreneur, land developer, transport pioneer and self-taught litigator was, by any measure, an extraordinary man. A gentle soul, he could spot the 'big idea', would promote it determinedly, but could not implement. His persistence in using the courts to protect and promote his ideas went far beyond reason and led the Victorian government to enact three different Acts of Parliament in an effort to curb his activities. One enactment, in 1928, was the vexatious litigant provision that empowers the Supreme Court to prohibit issue of proceedings by such litigants without the court's prior leave. (1) It provided the model for similar provisions in most superior court jurisdictions in Australia. In 1930, Millane became the first person in Australia declared a vexatious litigant.

Born in 1887, in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn, Millane was the fourth of five children of Patrick and Annie Millane. He left school in 1902 aged 15 and by 1906 was established as a Motor Agent importing and selling gasoline and kerosene. A self-taught engineer, in 1907 aged 20, he lodged for approval in England a patent entitled 'Improvements in and relating to internal combustion engines'. (2) This interest in transport matters, particularly public transport, would be a lifelong passion. In later life, Millane would attribute this interest to his Irish grandmother who he said, rather than pay the 18 [pounds sterling] demanded by Cobb and Co for the journey, had walked to Castlemaine goldfields with her family upon landing as assisted immigrants at Port Henry, Geelong in 1852. (3)

Promoter of Petrol Railroad Cars