Day 182 - 02 Nov 95 - Page 66


     
     1        I believe to be the position, once the statement has been
     2        read, Mr. Morris is out of court so far as calling a
     3        witness is concerned.
     4
     5        If, however, he merely indicates that it is his intention
     6        to read the statement, he does that sooner rather than
     7        later, then the burden would fall on me to produce anything
     8        that I was -- the reason I have held my hand, if I have a
     9        hand, on this is that up until now I had thought that they
    10        were calling their French witnesses.
    11
    12   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You are entitled to take the stand then that
    13        although we had disclosure of evidence, there are certain
    14        respects in which you can wait until cross-examination to
    15        bring forward information.
    16
    17   MR. RAMPTON:  Exactly, but if I am told that they are not going
    18        to be called, then I would proffer whatever admissible
    19        evidence under this section I thought appropriate, if any.
    20        Then the Defendants would still have the option to say:
    21         "Well, in the light of that, I am after all going to call
    22        them".
    23
    24   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If Mr. Morris decides that, in principle, he
    25        wants to read the statement, all he has to say is:  "As
    26        presently advised, I intend to read the statement rather
    27        than call the witness".  He then gets to look at anything
    28        which you wish to produce and he may say:  "Well, now as
    29        presently advised, I propose to call the witness".
    30
    31   MR. RAMPTON:  Which is precisely why I said -----
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  And neither side has been disadvantaged by
    34        what has happened.
    35
    36   MR. RAMPTON:  Which is precisely why I said that to retain their
    37        scheduled position, which, perhaps, I do not know for the
    38        reasons your Lordship was mentioning earlier they ought not
    39        to, but if they are, the sooner we are told what the
    40        intention is the better, because that gives everybody more
    41        time to sort out what they are actually going to do.
    42
    43   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is not for you to give advice to the
    44        Defendants.  I am extremely grateful to you for bringing it
    45        to my attention because I do not mind admitting I
    46        had completely overlooked it.  If I was representing the
    47        Defendants, I might say, well, look, the way you can get
    48        the best of both worlds is to take what in any event might
    49        appear to be the sensible course on present information and
    50        say:   "We propose as presently advised to read Mr. Lamti 
    51        and Miss Villeneuve-Gallaiz" and then wait and see what, if 
    52        anything, you produce under section 7, and then reconsider 
    53        their decision.
    54
    55   MR. RAMPTON:  That is why I said when I rose to my feet that
    56        I do sometimes feel compelled in a case of this kind to
    57        fill gaps in the Defendants' legal -----
    58
    59   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I am very grateful to you.  You understand
    60        what has happened?

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