Day 284 - 22 Oct 96 - Page 05
1 point is that we have not had proper advice on it, and that
2 I do not know if the -- maybe if there is going to be some
3 consideration of this matter that there should be
4 authorities referred to. I don't know if the Telnikoff
5 case is ----
6
7 MR. RAMPTON: Again I am trying to be helpful. All the
8 relevant authorities as we see them are referred to in that
9 quite long and rather full piece of paper which we sent to
10 all people concerned some considerable time ago. There is
11 a whole section on fair comment with all the relevant
12 authorities as we see them referred to in the relevant
13 paragraphs. Indeed, the actual copies of the actual
14 authorities have been sent to the defendants.
15
16 MR JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
17
18 MR. MORRIS: I did not realise that paper was dealt with.
19
20 MR JUSTICE BELL: It is paragraph 3 of the legal submissions
21 which were sent to you.
22
23 MR. MORRIS: Right.
24
25 MR. RAMPTON: It does include Telnikoff. It includes a very
26 great deal more than Telnikoff.
27
28 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Particularly sub-paragraph B, on page 5 of
29 the legal submissions.
30
31 MR. MORRIS: Right.
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The reason I mentioned it, not because at
34 the moment I thought that there would be any real issue
35 about what the law is, though when you have taken advice
36 you may tell me that there is an issue about it, but I
37 wanted you to be aware of what seemed to me a crack that
38 one could fall into out of ignorance in thinking it is
39 easier to defend a comment because you do not necessarily
40 have to show the comment is right, only that it is fair,
41 but if one sets off to take that apparently easier route
42 you may suddenly find that you cannot depend upon matters
43 of fact which you could have depended upon had you tried to
44 justify the statement as a statement of fact rather than an
45 expression of opinion. I think you got hold of that point
46 yesterday afternoon.
47
48 MR. MORRIS: Yes.
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: So it may not be so much as what the legal
51 principles are. At the moment, although I will keep an
52 open mind, they seem to me to be correctly set out in
53 Mr. Rampton's legal submissions. It is the ramifications
54 of the legal principles so far as the case is concerned.
55
56 MR. MORRIS: Yes.
57
58 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Might I suggest this; that when you come to
59 the different sections in the leaflet, you tell me what you
60 would suggest the meaning is. You do not at that stage
