Day 171 - 11 Oct 95 - Page 03
1 question arises in any context in the future.
2
3 MR. RAMPTON: If the Defendants make a case for its relevance,
4 then it is something, obviously, which I shall in due
5 course have to deal with.
6
7 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It may come back into the forum.
8
9 MR. MORRIS: I am just trying to find the reference, because it
10 was an important reference. I do not think we will be
11 having a long day, so there is no pressure on time.
12
13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just tell me what the reference is you have
14 in mind, Mr. Morris. (Pause) Do not bother to look it up.
15 Just tell me what you have in mind.
16
17 MR. MORRIS: I have found it. Yes. It is exactly what
18 Mr. Rampton said. You said, on day 123, which was 9th May
19 this year, on page 14 of the transcript, lines 13 to 22,
20 regarding the issue Mr. Rampton clarified:
21
22 "Whether it is some federal law or it is the law which
23 prevails in some or all of the States, if it is a matter
24 you want to rely on and if you can show me it is relevant,
25 you can deal with this as a matter of law in due course.
26 In fact, it might well be you would have to have expert
27 evidence on what the law was if you wanted to pursue it."
28
29 So this is, we are putting forward, as expert evidence on
30 what the law is in the United States. (sic)
31
32 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, my problem is this: if it is relevant to
33 your Lordship's judgment, then I shall have to answer it
34 with expert evidence of my own, because I cannot give
35 evidence about American law in this court; and your
36 Lordship is deemed not to know anything about American law.
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Well, the deeming is pretty accurate, in
39 fact.
40
41 MR. RAMPTON: As your Lordship knows, foreign law is a question
42 of fact for an English judge and there has to be evidence
43 about it; and before ever I do that, I need to have
44 your Lordship's ruling on whether or not it was relevant.
45 One cannot really, therefore, leave it until the end of the
46 case. I am not suggesting we should deal with it today,
47 but at some point, if Mr. Morris persists in saying it is
48 relevant, then we need to know what the relevance is, so
49 that we can argue about that if necessary. If your
50 Lordship should make a decision it is relevant, I can go
51 off and get some expert evidence of my own, which,
52 presently, I do not need to do because I do not see it is
53 relevant.
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That appears to be me to be right,
56 Mr. Morris. I mean, there is certainly no section of the
57 case which I can file this under at the moment; so, rather
58 than put it in the bundles for any section of the case,
59 what I propose to do is put it in my "law" file. It will
60 not get lost. But what I invite you to make a physical (as
