Day 186 - 10 Nov 95 - Page 49
1 itself and what you will find in this leaflet is everything
2 they normally try and hide from you and everything they do
3 not want you to know. He then said: so that the
4 reasonable reader would approach the leaflet with two
5 expectations, which is what are they going to find out that
6 the company has been trying to hide. I just wanted to say
7 that I thought that what Mr. Rampton said there was
8 extremely analysed. It was just that, I think it was the
9 Skuse case he was talking about, being wary of
10 over-analytical exercises in deciding the meaning; that no
11 ordinary reader would sit there thinking all the things
12 that Mr. Rampton was setting out. Actually, that is all
13 I have to say.
14
15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Thank you.
16
17 MR. MORRIS: Just a couple more bits. I agree with the point
18 that, in fact, the purpose of the cartoons and headings is
19 to invite someone to look at the text closely, which is a
20 point in our favour.
21
22 One final point, on the heading and the animal section: "In
23 what way is McDonald's responsible for torture and murder?"
24 Mr. Rampton has said he is not objecting to the words
25 "torture" and "murder".
26
27 MR. RAMPTON: No, I have not said that.
28
29 MR. MORRIS: Well -----
30
31 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. In fact, it was "murder" that he said
32 might be accepted as a comment, albeit very strong, but not
33 "torture"; he did not put "torture" in that -----
34
35 MR. MORRIS: I will have to check.
36
37 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am sure of that because, when thinking
38 about the meaning of the words in relation to animals, it
39 seemed to me that that might be a significant distinction.
40
41 MR. MORRIS: Yes. Well, "murder" is pretty strong, but -----
42
43 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think his point was a part of it, that it
44 is common ground that McDonald's are responsible for the
45 death of a lot of animals; and Mr. Rampton was saying that
46 he could see that people who felt strongly about it might
47 use the word "murder" for that. But he did not bring
48 "torture" in; he did not make the same concession with
49 regard to the word "torture".
50
51 MR. RAMPTON: Nor, my Lord, did I say that I object to it,
52 because it does not mean it is defamatory; what it means is
53 that the word "murder" may be objected to and regarded as a
54 comment. The question whether in this instance these
55 Defendants are to be regarded as fair (indecipherable) or,
56 on the contrary, malicious ones is yet to be determined.
57
58 MR. JUSTICE BELL: We have quite enough to think about on the
59 nutrition without going on to that.
60
