Day 236 - 17 04 96 - Page 24
Day 236
1 her evidence, I will ask her, and it is not really any more
2 than a formality: "Are there any more witnesses whom you
3 wish to call?" That is no more than a check by me that
4 that is in fact the close of her case, her evidential case.
5
6 I will then ask you if you wish to give evidence, and if
7 you do, then you will go to the witness box and give your
8 evidence. When you have completed your evidence, I will
9 ask you: "Are there any more witnesses whom you wish to
10 call?" I am not suggesting there will be -- in the way we
11 have done it, almost certainly there will not be -- but it
12 is no more than me reassuring myself that you are closing
13 your evidential case.
14
15 But before you go into the witness box, you really should
16 have made a check that there is no more witnesses whom you
17 want to call, and you cannot be forced to give evidence
18 last in the case. The normal process is that all the
19 Plaintiffs' witnesses in the case are called and then all
20 the Defendants' and the normal process is that the
21 Plaintiff is the first of its own witnesses, and the
22 Defendant is the first of his or her own witnesses.
23 Although frequently it does not turn out that way, but that
24 is the way it normally happens.
25
26 If you have a particular witness in respect of whom, for
27 any reason, you feel you would rather give your evidence
28 before calling that witness, then you must raise the
29 question sooner, rather than later. I cannot think of
30 anyone, but you must raise the question sooner, rather than
31 later, so that we can allow for it in the schedule..
32
33 MR. MORRIS: One thing crossed my mind: What about things like
34 character witnesses, or is that just completely irrelevant?
35
36 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have not got any statements from them. If
37 you are thinking of calling -- if you are contemplating
38 calling a character witnesses, you had better obtain a
39 statement, serve it, and then if there is any argument
40 about the relevance of it, I will hear it.
41
42 MS. STEEL: I am not quite sure where to start with
43 Mr. Carroll, but ----
44
45 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What about -- why should Mr. Carroll not be
46 called?
47
48 MS. STEEL: Well, because we are not ready for him. The reason
49 being given for calling him is to save time and, to be
50 quite honest, I do not actually think it will save time
51 because we are not prepared, and it just means that there
52 is going to be very long pauses between questions, while we
53 rummage about looking for particular parts that we want to
54 ask about. I have not had a chance to read all the
55 publications bundles yet.
56
57 I know the Plaintiffs have said in their letter, when
58 I asked about the originals: "We do not see why you need
59 to look at these before Mr. Carroll". Some of them do name
60 Mr. Carroll and we have not had a chance to consider
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