Australians who have been declared vexatious litigants are diverse — they include a successful South Australian winemaker, a Melbourne mass murderer and a Northern Territory "rubbish warrior".

Key points: At least 173 people have been declared vexatious litigants in Australia

At least 173 people have been declared vexatious litigants in Australia Hoddle Street killer Julian Knight is a vexatious litigant, launching 40 lawsuits over 10 years

Hoddle Street killer Julian Knight is a vexatious litigant, launching 40 lawsuits over 10 years Australia's first vexatious litigant, Rupert Frederick Millane, was declared in 1930

But they have one thing in common. They believe they have been wronged in some way and want a court order to say so.

There have been 99 people declared "vexatious litigants" by state-based Australian courts, including seven in South Australia, 21 in Victoria and 43 in New South Wales.

The term refers to people who repeatedly launch lawsuits without having reasonable grounds, or for an ulterior purpose.

The High Court has declared four people serial litigants, while the Federal Court has 49 people on its internal register of vexatious litigants. The Family Court was unable to provide a figure.

Simon Smith, an adjunct professor and leading legal history scholar at Victoria University, said there has been a surge in serial litigants because of an "explosion of law" since the 1970s.

"The Commonwealth has become a much bigger player and we now have all these tribunals and all of these laws that we didn't have before," he said.

"There's so much more scope for dispute."

Hoddle Street killer Julian Knight being taken to the Supreme Court in 2012. ( AAP: Julian Smith )

He said his research had found vexatious litigants tended to fit a "profile". They were generally men aged 40-50 who were "absolutely obsessed" with their grievance.

"Personally, I just think it's the cost of doing business — once you say you're going to give people access to law, you're going to have to deal with it," he said.

But he said they drove the judiciary "crazy".

"The system doesn't like them — they don't fit the traditional mould of a barrister wearing a wig so the system just spits them out and it goes on," he said.

The 'prince' of serial litigants was an inventor and pioneer

Dr Smith said Australia's "prince of vexatious litigants" was Rupert Frederick Millane — an inventor and transport pioneer. He was also the first Australian declared a vexatious litigant.

After first appearing in the Melbourne District Court in February 1925, he made nearly daily applications to the court over a three-month period.

His legal crusade started when new laws required a public transport "seat tax" and gave control of bus licences, route allocation and passenger limits to the Melbourne City Council, angering bus proprietors.

The council lobbied the Victorian Government to pass laws that mirrored the Vexatious Actions Act 1896, from England, in a bid to stop Mr Millane's flood of lawsuits.

In September 1930, Mr Millane was declared a vexatious litigant. Since then, each state and territory has passed similar laws.

Someone declared a vexatious litigant is banned from instituting new legal proceedings without special permission from a court.

Arguably the most high-profile serial litigant was Hoddle Street mass murderer Julian Knight, who killed seven people and injured 19 during a shooting spree in Melbourne in 1987.

He was declared a vexatious litigant in 2016 after launching 40 lawsuits over 10 years. Most of the lawsuits related to his treatment in jail.

"Mr Knight's applications, frequently baseless, take up scarce judicial resources and mean that other non-vexatious litigants are delayed in accessing justice," Victorian Supreme Court Justice Jack Forrest said in court documents.

The Northern Territory has only one serial litigant — failed mayoral candidate and rubbish warrior Trevor Jenkins.

Court documents reveal that in July 2018, NT Supreme Court Justice Stephen Southwood found Mr Jenkins had acted violently in court at times, throwing books at the bar table and breaking a lawyer's glasses.

"His oral submissions were frequently nothing more than very loud, agitated and abusive gabbling," Justice Southwood said.

"His conduct has significantly interfered with the administration of the courts."

Mr Jenkins is known as the "rubbish warrior" around Darwin for turning rubbish into roadside sculptures, and in 2018 he missed out on becoming Palmerston City Council mayor.

He has tried to prosecute Supreme Court sheriff Daniel McGregor a number of times.

Trevor Jenkins outside the Darwin Magistrates Court. ( ABC: Clare Rawlinson )

In his decision, Justice Southwood found Mr Jenkins had "accused myself and counsel of corruption, hurled racial abuse at court security staff and sexist, Islamophobic abuse at a graduate clerk with the solicitor for the Northern Territory".

"Defending the baseless criminal charges [Mr Jenkins] laid against court staff and others has had a detrimental impact on those he chose to pursue," he said.

Seven people have been declared vexatious by South Australian courts.

SA winemaker ran a 'royal commission' into his own life

In one case, former South Australian winemaker Andrew Garrett wrote a 433-page document detailing "scandalous" allegations against the National Australia Bank (NAB), his own lawyers and liquidators.

He also claimed Supreme Court judges had spent 10 months trying to "gag" him.

When Justice Tim Anderson declared Mr Garrett a vexatious litigant in the SA Supreme Court in 2007, he described the 433-page document as "puzzling" and stated the bankrupt man had wanted to "run a royal commission" into his own life.

"Mr Garrett is an intelligent man who has chosen to be stubborn and belligerent in taking on NAB but also many other professional people," he said in his decision.

Court documents stated Mr Garrett owed NAB more than $15 million as of January 2006.

Mr Garrett launched more than 30 lawsuits between 2004 and 2007.

Another SA serial litigant, Kazimir Kowalski, started his legal crusade against Mitsubishi Motors more than 30 years ago.

He settled with Mitsubishi Motors in 1998 and received $200,000 in compensation after numerous injury claims from 1986.

Despite the settlement, the SA Attorney-General claimed 109 lawsuits initiated by Mr Kowalski — in seven different courts and tribunals — were vexatious, and Mr Kowalski was declared a vexatious litigant in 2014.

SA Attorney-General Vickie Chapman said vexatious litigants "not only clog up the system" but they also cost both the taxpayer and private individuals who may be subject to numerous, baseless claims.

"Access to justice in a timely manner is an important part of our civil justice system, which is why it is so important we have laws that help the courts deal with vexatious litigants in an appropriate manner," she said.

In response to Ms Chapman, Mr Garrett told the ABC that vexatious litigant orders should only be made after the merit of a particular case has been explored by a court.

"In my case, it is my position that vexatious litigant orders were made as a barrier to justice," he said.