The judicial system is not normally known for its fleet of foot and willingness to embrace rapid change. But the High Court has led the way in a recent case by allowing service of a court order using Twitter.

Right-wing blogger and lawyer, Donal Blaney, who blogs at a site called Blaney’s Blarney was given permission by the court to serve an injunction against an unknown Twitter user who anonymously Tweeted using his name. And the order has apparently acheived its desired objectives; Blaney says on his site:

The hitherto anonymous individual who infringed my intellectual property rights and set up the fake @blaneyblarney account on Twitter has, on service of the injunction requiring him to stop and to reveal his identity, agreed to comply with the order. I am in the process of negotiating a settlement with this individual.

The traditional method of serving documents is through the post but court orders can be served by fax, email, even Facebook in one Australian case and now Twitter it seems.