Day 187 - 13 Nov 95 - Page 05
1 MR. RAMPTON: He is pretty quick. I do not know how far he has
2 got.
3
4 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Have the break anyway at the end of the
5 evidence-in-chief, and then he is not hurried and we need
6 not be hurried. I do not suppose it will take very long.
7
8 It is the sort of thing which may, at the end of the day,
9 make no difference at all, but in Mr. Lamti's statement it
10 says on what is now A6: "He proposed that I get moved to
11 another establishment or be sacked." I do not know whether
12 the French word which is -----
13
14 MR. MORRIS: Which page is that, sorry?
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not know whether "etre licencier" would
17 carry in France exactly the same connotation as "be sacked"
18 would carry in England. I do not know whether it does;
19 I have not bothered to look it up in a French dictionary at
20 home. But "sacked" has an abrasiveness about it which, for
21 all I know, the French words do not. It is that sort of
22 thing which -----
23
24 MR. RAMPTON: It means "to terminate one's employment".
25
26 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. But, I mean, "sacked" is a colloquial
27 English word. Is "licencier" a colloquial French word, or
28 is it a perfectly orthodox word?
29
30 MR. RAMPTON: My French is, I think, about the same as
31 your Lordship's, so I am not going to answer that. I do
32 not know.
33
34 MR. MORRIS: It may be thought not to be a crucial difference.
35
36 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It may not, but that is just one I have
37 picked on. What I do not know is whether, throughout the
38 statements, there are others. Do you see? I mean, if it
39 meant, "We are prepared to let you go on these terms", it
40 is very different to saying, "I am going to sack you." It
41 may be, I just do not know. But that may be a trivial
42 point.
43
44 MR. RAMPTON: I agree.
45
46 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It all started with me just asking if you are
47 content with the translation.
48
49 MR. RAMPTON: That was before I had -- my Lord, the problem is
50 really this, that if this statement is read as being
51 Mr. Lamti's evidence-in-chief, I cannot cross-examine him
52 about the validity of the translation, because it is not
53 his doing. I doubt I can cross-examine the interpreter.
54 I do not know whether that is helpful.
55
56 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is entirely up to you, because the points
57 I am taking, firstly, may not be of any significance and,
58 secondly, they may be outright wrong. I just wanted to air
59 it, because once the English translation goes in, one
60 forgets the French original; the evidence is the English
