Day 149 - 06 Jul 95 - Page 18


     
     1        to read every word of the minutes, but I would like you to
     2        save me that time by identifying the part.
     3
     4   MS. STEEL:   I do think the best course is to wait until we see
     5        the other documents.
     6
     7   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Before you make a positive application that
     8        Mrs. Barnes is recalled, what you are saying is you should
     9        have the further discovery which you have asked for?
    10
    11   MS. STEEL:   Yes.
    12
    13   MR. MORRIS:  Can I say one last thing on these documents?
    14
    15   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    16
    17   MR. MORRIS:  Obviously, we are not happy at all with the
    18        principle of blanking out.  We recognise there has been a
    19        judgment on this by a higher court, but I think there has
    20        to be some limit; and, certainly, there is some power in
    21        terms of a judge, to ensure that blanking out is not just a
    22        means of concealing matters which should be in front of the
    23        court.
    24
    25        It is not just whether the specific words go to an issue in
    26        dispute in the case, but also the fact of whether something
    27        is discussed at a meeting or not discussed at a meeting may
    28        be relevant or can be relevant, whether or not the actual
    29        content of the discussion goes to an issue in the case.
    30
    31   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Do not forget, I am not making law in
    32        relation to this.
    33
    34   MR. MORRIS:  No.  I understand that.
    35
    36   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  There has been a Court of Appeal decision
    37        very recently which deals in some detail with the approach.
    38
    39   MR. MORRIS:  Yes, but I think that the court did not say that --
    40        as far as I understand the decision, the question is
    41        whether we could show a reasonable belief that the words
    42        that have been blanked out ---
    43
    44   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I do not think ---
    45
    46   MR. MORRIS:  -- are relevant.
    47
    48   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  -- it is anything about what you believe,
    49        quite frankly, and I think what you believe is not
    50        relevant.  I think it is whether there is a reason to 
    51        suppose that the discovering party's contention that there 
    52        is nothing relevant there is wrong.  But I should really be 
    53        referred to the report, which I think so far is only in
    54        The Times, in relation to that.  It may have come into the
    55        Weekly Law Reports or the All England Reports.
    56
    57   MR. MORRIS:  The point I am trying to make is that it is not
    58        just the actual words being relevant to an issue in
    59        dispute; it is also whether on a document -- for example,
    60        if there is a document about the Health and Safety Task

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