Day 233 - 26 03 96 - Page 56

 
 

                                                                  DAY 233
 
 
 
 
 
     1        through to Tuesday, 18th, at the latest really, leaving
     2        another four, five, three or four, five or six (if one
     3        counts the weekend) before the Defendants, themselves,
     4        would start to give evidence on the 24th.  I have allowed
     5        them a week each because, unlike so many other witnesses,
     6        their cross-examination will be quite long, I am afraid.
     7
     8        Then, my Lord, there will be time needed for legal
     9        submissions at the end of the evidence and before speeches,
    10        because there are a number of points of law which your
    11        Lordship would, I respectfully submit, have to decide
    12        before we make speeches so that we know how to cast them.
    13        I have allowed -----
    14
    15   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What sort of topics do you have in mind?
    16
    17   MR. RAMPTON:  Like the question of agency, the relationship of
    18        malice to fair comment, the basis on which the court will
    19        grant an injunction.  Maybe that could be left until later.
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  But why do they have to be made before
    22        speeches?
    23
    24   MR. RAMPTON:  Not from my point of view or from your Lordship's
    25        point of view, because I anticipate that it would help the
    26        Defendants to know what the law is before they actually
    27        make their speeches; otherwise, they may well misdirect a
    28        whole lot of their energy because they do not actually know
    29        where things are aimed at.  It is not their fault, of
    30        course, but I thought it might help.
    31
    32   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  An alternative would be that whatever
    33        else is said about reducing submissions, or some of them,
    34        to writing before speeches are given -- and I have a
    35        completely open mind on that -- it might be very useful if
    36        you were to prepare your submissions in writing on any
    37        points of law so that the Defendants have them well before
    38        they address me.  That would be a help to me but also might
    39        help Ms. Steel and Mr. Morris.
    40
    41   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, that may well be a much better idea than
    42        your Lordship sitting in court listening to me banging on
    43        about the law.  That may be much more helpful.  I would
    44        need some time to do that but, frankly, I do not really
    45        mind when that should happen.  I have left an allowance for
    46        overrun just because things do have a tendency to slip, as
    47        we all know, and your Lordship will see I have put a dotted
    48        line at the end of Thursday, 18th July.  There are three
    49        reasons for that.  The first is that my belief is that that
    50        is when Mr. Morris' son's school holiday begins. 
    51 
    52   MR. MORRIS:  That is absolutely right. 
    53
    54   MR. RAMPTON:  The second, and perhaps the most important reason
    55        of all -- and I will tell your Lordship about the third
    56        because I believe I have to -- the second reason is this,
    57        that by 18th July we would have been in court about, well,
    58        perhaps just over two-thirds of the time, but we will have
    59        been trying this case for nearly two years.  I may
    60        sometimes seem indestructible but I am certainly not and I
 
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