Day 173 - 16 Oct 95 - Page 06
1 box?
2
3 MR. MORRIS: Can I just say, before Mr. Mehigan is sworn in,
4 first of all, we have not had time to check his statement
5 yet. So we want to do that, to see it is the same
6 statement we have got.
7
8 Secondly, I have counted something like 30 statements in it
9 that I would call hearsay. We have made our position
10 clear, which is that in general we are not objecting,
11 because I think it helps with the smooth flow of someone's
12 evidence that they be allowed to say what they have said in
13 their statement. But I think we did want to point out one
14 specific thing. If it is in issue, we can go through every
15 one, but I do not think that would be the best use of court
16 time.
17
18 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Is there one which troubles you particularly?
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20 MR. MORRIS: Well, yes, there is. It was about -----
21
22 MS. STEEL: It is on page 5.
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24 MR. MORRIS: Page 5.
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26 MS. STEEL: At the bottom of paragraph 14, it is talking about a
27 meeting with Mr. Michael Mullen, President of the ITPW, and
28 it says Mr. Mehigan said he informed Mr. Mullen of
29 something, and then he says "and he agreed".
30
31 MR. RAMPTON: That is not hearsay, with the greatest possible
32 respect.
33
34 MS. STEEL: It is hearsay.
35
36 MR. RAMPTON: No. My Lord, I do not blame Mr. Morris and
37 Ms. Steel for this. To say that "I agreed with somebody or
38 something" is not hearsay. It represents the witness's
39 understanding of what the agreement was, just the same way
40 as a report of things said in order to explain what a
41 witness did does not prove the truth of what was said; it
42 merely shows what was said. It is not, in fact, hearsay at
43 all, because the objection to hearsay or the hearsay
44 objection is that it is apt to indicate what he said is
45 true. Reports of speech which are, themselves, the fact
46 that needs to be proved -- in other words, what matters is
47 what was said and not whether it was true or not -- is not
48 hearsay at all.
49
50 MS. STEEL: How do we know that he did agree?
51
52 MR. RAMPTON: Because Mr. Mehigan was there.
53
54 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Because Mr. Mehigan has said so. The rule
55 against hearsay is against the truth of the statement which
56 is related, as opposed to the fact that the statement was
57 made; and the significance of that part (if it has any) is
58 that the evidence goes as to the fact of the statement
59 being made, i.e., that he agreed.
60
