Day 277 - 10 Jul 96 - Page 05

     
     1        there.  I can see I have got the measure of the Plaintiff's
     2        list but I do not know what will be on yours.  What I do
     3        not want is disputed witnesses coming back into the witness
     4        box and cross-examination by one side or the other of them,
     5        which is really going back to matters of fact which are at
     6        issue rather than proof of documents, which either side
     7        wants to rely on.  That I will find quite unacceptable.
     8
     9   MR. ATKINSON:  Can I just say?
    10
    11   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I will put it in another way, what I am
    12        prepared to countenance, if it is absolutely unavoidable,
    13        is calling witnesses just to prove documents which one side
    14        or the other wants to use.  In a situation where there is
    15        not really any disputed evidence as to fact, that one side
    16        or the other just feels unable to take the final step of
    17        saying, 'Right, we will admit the contents of that
    18        document', that is all.
    19
    20   MR. ATKINSON:  Yes.  When I was talking about oral evidence I
         was only thinking in terms of somebody, because it had been
    22        insisted that they come into the box, simply saying, 'This
    23        is what the document is, it was produced in the following
    24        way', so, therefore, it is something that comes under
    25        section 4 of the Civil Evidence Act, or whatever.  That is
    26        all I was anticipating was happening.  I think in most
    27        cases there will simply be a written statement anyway, even
    28        if the matter could not be agreed on simply as a written
    29        statement, because many of them are anyway, in any event,
    30        American documents.  So it would probably not be wise.
    31
    32   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I hope I have made the position clear.  I am
    33        prepared, if it helps the four parties in the case and
    34        helps to save costs, to countenance evidence which goes
    35        merely to proving a document as opposed to evidence which
    36        relates to the truth or otherwise of the facts in the
    37        document.  It is the latter which I do not want after the
    38        end of this month.
    39
    40             But I think the efforts on both sides to agree as much
         as possible must be sustained while everyone, or most of us
    42        anyway, and certainly I am, is still around, that is up
    43        until 31st July, and if at any stage attempts to agree
    44        documents have reached a point where all parties say, 'Now
    45        we would like to interrupt the evidence now, there is not
    46        much of it left anyway', for half a day or a day with a
    47        view to resolving things comfortably before the end of
    48        July, and if Mr. Morris says he will not be around at the
    49        last week of July, with a view to resolving things before
    50        the end of the third week in July, then I hope I will be
    51        told at some stage, anyway before we go away and while both
    52        Miss Steel and Mr. Morris are here and while Mr. Rampton is
    53        still here, if he has other matters which must occupy some
    54        of his time, I want to talk about when speeches,
    55        submissions, should begin in the autumn and how long they
    56        should take.
    57
    58             Because I have it in mind at the moment to put a limit
    59        on how long the speeches on behalf of the first and second
    60        Plaintiff and Miss Steel's speech and Mr. Morris's speech