Day 236 - 17 04 96 - Page 18

 
 

                                                                  Day 236
 
 
 
 
 
     1
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If you think something was said which either
     3        helps you in these proceedings themselves, or will help you
     4        form a view as to what evidence you need to call, then you
     5        must obtain a transcript.  There is no mystery about my
     6        position.  As a judge whose decision has been appealed,
     7        I am sent in due course, as I have said before, as a matter
     8        of courtesy, a copy of the approved transcript, because all
     9        Court of Appeal decisions are automatically transcribed and
    10        go into the Supreme Court library.  The judge whose appeal
    11        was, whatever the result of the appeal, is sent a copy of
    12        the transcript.  But that sometimes happens many months
    13        later, because unless there is some great point of legal
    14        principle, which the public at large or the legal
    15        profession should know about, there is no urgency about
    16        getting a transcript.  So, if you, as a party, whether to
    17        litigation or a party interested in a more general way,
    18        want a transcript, you must order it in the normal way.
    19
    20   MS. STEEL:   Right.  OK.
    21
    22   MR. MORRIS:  We will try and do that today when we have
    23        finished.
    24
    25   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Mr. Rampton, would it be helpful if you
    26        and/or Mr. Atkinson actually set out in writing the terms
    27        of -- I know you have said it on a number of other
    28        occasions but I suggest this nevertheless, the terms of
    29        what your clients admit so far as heart disease.
    30
    31   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, I can do it.  The first bit is already in
    32        writing.  It was put in writing on 15th December 1993.  It
    33        is this, that there is a considerable amount of evidence
    34        and I will read it slowly because I do not want to ---
    35
    36   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is in the list of admissions which I have
    37        presumably.
    38
    39   MR. RAMPTON:  It is tab 31 in the list of admissions, but it is
    40        a separate admission.  It was a document dated 15th
    41        December 1993.  It says:
    42
    43             "Fact admitted:  (1) nutrition, that there is a
    44            considerable amount of evidence of a relationship
    45           between a diet high in saturated fat and sodium, and
    46          obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease".
    47
    48        I add to that, as I have done on numerous occasions in the
    49        past, and I do it now formally:
    50 
    51             "It is further admitted that that relationship 
    52             is causal in nature". 
    53
    54        I never resiled from that, and I do not think there is
    55        anything in the judgment of the Court of Appeal which bears
    56        upon the validity of that admission or more particularly,
    57        on the question, in the light of that admission and of your
    58        Lordship's finding as to meaning, bears upon the question
    59        which is entirely a matter for your Lordship, what evidence
    60        is relevant and admissible, in relation to heart disease or
 
                                      18