Day 147 - 04 Jul 95 - Page 15
1 transcript for another party.
2
3 If we go on from there to what you have said about not
4 having copies of documents, well, that may be so, but all
5 the transcript is an accurate record of what you have heard
6 in court yourself.
7
8 MS. STEEL: If we are not able to see the transcript, then we do
9 not know whether it is accurate or not -- which is not to
10 cast doubt on the stenographers, but -----
11
12 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am really not going to be deceived by an
13 inaccuracy in the transcript; I am going to know if there
14 is an inaccuracy. The inaccuracies are very seldom things
15 other than, for instance, a "not" not going in or a "not"
16 going in when it should not, and the inaccuracy is then
17 completely obvious. I am also taking a pretty good note.
18
19 MS. STEEL: I believe there is a principle at stake which is
20 about documents not being handed up to the -----
21
22 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not treat the transcript as a document.
23 That is not its status here. It is not there to prove
24 anything.
25
26 MS. STEEL: It is there to prove what was said in the trial.
27
28 MR. JUSTICE BELL: There have been some recent cases on
29 transcripts being used to prove, going in under the Civil
30 Evidence Act, but that is not what happens here.
31
32 It is not that I am against you. I just do not think it is
33 any of my business at the moment. Although I have been
34 called into the case on a number of occasions because there
35 is an extraordinary lack of communication between the
36 parties and, therefore, I have been used as a conduit for
37 communications between the parties, I really just do not
38 see this is any of my business, telling one party how many
39 copies they should buy.
40
41 MS. STEEL: There are other matters which I want to bring up,
42 but you did specifically ask us to address you on the
43 matter of whether we would want you to have copies of the
44 transcripts if we did not have them. We would oppose you
45 having copies of the transcripts if we are not allowed to
46 see those transcripts and we are not provided with copies
47 of them.
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It helps you if I have a copy of the
50 transcript, whatever you may think yourself.
51
52 MS. STEEL: Obviously, if you were to provide us with a copy of
53 the transcript, then we would not object to you receiving a
54 copy of -----
55
56 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I cannot do that. I am not going to dip into
57 my own pocket to produce an extra copy of the transcript.
58 It is no part of a judge's duty at all.
59
60 MS. STEEL: There is a point in regard to this about, at the end
