Day 288 - 28 Oct 96 - Page 20
1 in their natural behaviour, it is entirely manipulated
2 throughout by the food industry from birth until death.
3 And that is a general charge. (Pause).
4
5 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do you want to reserve your position at the
6 moment on comment? You have say something about it sooner
7 or later. I mean, I have to say at the moment -- I will
8 keep an open mind, obviously, because you are only
9 beginning to address me on this area of the matter -- it
10 looks to me as if, whatever may be said about other parts
11 of the leaflet, the statements here expressed or imputed,
12 or inferential, use whatever word you like, are statements
13 of fact. I have a difficulty with an imputed comment,
14 anyway, as a matter of philosophical argument. I suppose
15 you could have imputed comments, but it is far easier to
16 see express comments. We say all this amounts to torture,
17 or something like that, having set out all the nasty things
18 which happened to the animals.
19
20 But I do not think it actually probably does you any harm
21 at the end of the day because you can bring in, if the
22 general sting is a statement of fact, in all the other
23 matters you complain of, apart from those which expressly
24 refer to -- I have your point about artificial conditions,
25 and you might say huge factory farms as well might bring in
26 things too. Whereas if it were just a comment, then,
27 subject to any legal argument you bring forward, on what
28 I have read at the moment, it seems to me that you have got
29 to justify... I am sorry, I made the same mistake I made
30 the other day - you have to be able to defend each of the
31 specific matters upon which it is related and if you fall
32 down on one of them then in law, as well as in common
33 sense, it may be said that that is not a fair comment,
34 which is a problem you do not have to worry about if they
35 are all statements of fact, including the general statement
36 of fact.
37
38 MS. STEEL: I do not think that is right, is it? I thought
39 that that rule of common law about if you fall down on one
40 you fall down on the whole lot had been superceded and as
41 long as there was enough in there to provide the general
42 sting then you succeed.
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If there are mixed statements of fact and
45 comment, yes, because I suppose that is section 6.
46
47 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, in section 6 it depends on the relative
48 weight of the statements of fact. You could succeed on one
49 of ten facts if it is strong enough.
50
51 MR JUSTICE BELL: Well, I mean the most obvious one is that if,
52 for instance, you succeeded in proving that McDonald's
53 animals frequently had their throats cut while they were
54 still fully conscious -----
55
56 MR. RAMPTON: Exactly.
57
58 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Then even though you failed on the other
59 ones, that might make any general statement which was a
60 comment a fair one. But there we are. In a sense you do
