Day 138 - 20 Jun 95 - Page 19
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2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Maybe that is so.
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4 MS. STEEL: Can I just add, I actually think there has been
5 serious leading going on for quite a while, not just in the
6 questions that have been asked but also in the manner that
7 they have been put, saying them in a tone of voice which is
8 designed to pour scorn on the fact that anyone could even
9 suggest such a thing. I really think that Mr. Rampton
10 ought to be a bit more careful and just put the questions
11 in a neutral way without any hint in his tone of voice.
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13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: All I can say in my 30 years' experience
14 I have heard nothing this morning which I think goes beyond
15 what is perfectly normal when you have got a witness, the
16 drift of whose evidence is completely clear, and one is
17 trying to get through it as effectively as possible. Where
18 we go wrong and where leading questions it seems to
19 me -- if you insist on saying there should be no leading
20 questions, strictly there cannot be but the whole trial
21 then will virtually grind to a halt. Where it is obvious
22 what the drift and tenor of a witness's evidence is
23 I actually see no harm in leading questions of the kind
24 Mr. Rampton has asked, and the same will apply, and has
25 applied, when you are calling similar witnesses.
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27 MS. STEEL: It is interesting that with the apparent leading and
28 tone in the voice that Mr. Rampton has been using this
29 morning, Mr. Stein has given substantially different
30 answers to the position given by other witnesses from the
31 Company.
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33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You pick that up in cross-examination if you
34 will. But, quite frankly, I am going to judge each witness
35 as he comes along. The first question is to decide whether
36 they are intending to be honest and then supposing that
37 question in my mind is decided in their favour, or you have
38 not even challenged the question of whether they are
39 honest, I have to look at the question of reliability.
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41 By and large the most noticeable effect of asking a leading
42 question is that if there is any challenge to its
43 reliability, the answer might be thought to be inherently
44 less reliable than if the question is put in a non-leading
45 form. Before we get down to that, we have to see just what
46 the issue is and what the evidence deployed on one side or
47 another is at the end of the day. Try and stay relaxed
48 about leading questions at least when they relate to
49 matters of policy where it is obvious Mr. Stein feels able
50 to support McDonald's policy. When we come to questions of
51 particular fact, for instance, why someone, just as a
52 detailed example, slipped on the floor or something of that
53 kind, then one has to be careful not to ask leading
54 questions, I agree.
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56 MR. RAMPTON: Mr. Stein, can I ask you this because, in fairness
57 to you, it may be important. Have you given any answers in
58 response to any of my questions, whether leading otherwise,
59 this morning or yesterday which were not honest?
60 A. No, sir not at all. I have complete understanding and
