Day 243 - 02 May 96 - Page 35
1 I can infer or not infer from the evidence which they have
2 given.
3
4 MR. RAMPTON: Certainly so far as some parts of it. The only
5 other thing I was going to say was, like your Lordship,
6 I do not have an opinion about which order the Defendants
7 and their publication witnesses go in. All I require is a
8 bit of notice of which order it is going to be, just as we
9 are doing now scheduling particular people for particular
10 days.
11
12 MS. STEEL: I do not know why Mr. Rampton thinks he needs
13 notice. He wanted us to do Mr. Carroll in about -----
14
15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: With regard to publication, I am not prepared
16 to call on either side to give any notice as to which
17 publication witness they call next. As far as I am
18 concerned, either side from Monday, 20th May on, which is
19 two and a half weeks, can call any publication witness on
20 either side without any notice. It is helpful for
21 preparation to have notice, but one seemed to survive at
22 the Bar for over a quarter of a century without getting any
23 at all. It was only in the last few years that it actually
24 arose, and we are just going to have to manage. The
25 publication cases have been set out in statements for years
26 literally, now.
27
28 MS. STEEL: I would like to say that that might lead to a bit
29 of a problem if we do not give -- if nobody gives any
30 notice of when they are intending to call their witnesses;
31 people might both call them on the same day and then -----
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, I am hoping there will be some notice.
34 It is helpful if there is. But I may well say, "I need
35 publication witnesses next Tuesday or Wednesday". This is
36 just by way of example. The party concerned may not be
37 able to find out until not very long before who they can
38 actually call on those days. I hope all this is avoided.
39 I hope that they are scheduled comfortably in advance, but,
40 if they are not, we are reaching the stage where they will
41 just have to go in and give evidence.
42
43 MR. MORRIS: I think from Mr. Rampton's reaction which is that,
44 "I am not going to give notice then", means that he would
45 take advantage of that to make our life as difficult as
46 possible.
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, I do not see it that way at all. It is
49 not a question of what Mr. Rampton is doing. Mr. Rampton
50 has said that he would like notice from you and
51 I said-----
52
53 MR. MORRIS: Which we always do.
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, but I was saying that now we have got
56 this far and it is within the narrow sphere of publication,
57 I do not think it is necessary, and what I say to Mr.
58 Rampton must apply to you as well. Do not make a problem
59 when it has not actually arisen yet.
60
