Day 182 - 02 Nov 95 - Page 02


     
     1                                      Thursday, 2nd November, 1995
     2
     3   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes?
     4
     5   MR. MORRIS:  I call our witness, Mr. Jenssen.
     6
     7   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Let us see where we are going first.
     8
     9   MR. RAMPTON:  Can I, before that, just say a few words?  I have
    10        no objection to Mr. Jenssen giving oral evidence about the
    11        additional matters which have been notified to us.
    12        However -- and this is not just a technical point -- both
    13        with his original statement and now, served on me five
    14        minutes ago, are a number of documents in Norwegian.
    15        I take it that Mr. Jenssen, himself, speaks good enough
    16        English for us not to have to have an interpreter.
    17
    18        So far as the documents are concerned, however, they cannot
    19        be admitted in evidence unless and until they are
    20        translated.  The reason for that is, as your Lordship
    21        knows, since about the middle of the 14th century until the
    22        Welsh Language Act made an exception in relation to
    23        proceedings in Welsh in Wales, the language of these courts
    24        is English, and no other.
    25
    26   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  Look, let us just look at your sheet of
    27        notes.  I am grateful for what Mr. Rampton has said.  It
    28        seems to me that it would be sensible that you should ask
    29        Mr. Jenssen about the matters under the first heading.  No
    30        doubt, it is only to be anticipated that you would ask him
    31        about his responses to specific allegations in Mr. Holm's
    32        statements; and in a sense, it is unrealistic to have
    33        Mr. Jenssen here and not to ask him that.  But then what
    34        are you expecting to do so far as documents which are in
    35        Norwegian are concerned?
    36
    37   MR. MORRIS:  They are really provided for the benefit of the
    38        court, if there is anything that has changed.  I mean,
    39        those appendices relate to the first section, as it says
    40        here, "the improvements going by union recognition based on
    41        legal statutes and agreements".  He has brought the legal
    42        statutes and agreements.  Mr. Jenssen, as the union
    43        representative, obviously, is familiar with all the
    44        relevant legal statutes and agreements, but it was felt
    45        helpful to court to have those available.  If any of the
    46        particular sections need a formal translation at a later
    47        date to check them, if they seem to be challenged or are
    48        extremely significant, then we will endeavour to do that,
    49        but I think it is only a matter of courtesy that we brought
    50        them. 
    51 
    52   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I think that is fair enough, but let us see 
    53        how we go.  For a start, I cannot sensibly or fairly --
    54        quite apart from any legal consideration -- pay attention
    55        to any part of a document when I do not have the whole.  So
    56        if, for instance, Mr. Jenssen translated one sentence of a
    57        letter which he thought was relevant, or you thought it
    58        was, I really could not attach any weight to that unless
    59        I knew what all the rest said, either.  At the moment, I am
    60        not going to do that.

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