Day 307 - 27 Nov 96 - Page 60
1 have put themselves in the public eye and have immense
2 power; and it is in the public interest that they be
3 subject to unfettered scrutiny -- which is what the House
4 of Lords decided in Derbyshire County Council v. The Times
5 and was extended in the National Union of Mineworkers case.
6
7 MR JUSTICE BELL: Have you actually got the title to the NUM
8 case now?
9
10 MR. MORRIS: Yes. We actually have the final judgment on it,
11 where they say they are extending the House of Lords ----
12
13 MS. STEEL: The judgment was on -- it is British Coal
14 Corporation -----
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Speak up.
17
18 MS. STEEL: British Coal Corporation v. The National Union of
19 Mineworkers Yorkshire Area and Kenneth Capstick.
20
21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Take it slowly NUM, Yorkshire Area?
22
23 MS. STEEL: And Kenneth Capstick. We have actually got a copy
24 of the transcript of the judgment, and it is case number
25 1992/B/2573, and the judgment was given on
26 Friday, 28th June 1996.
27
28 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Where was that?
29
30 MS. STEEL: French L.J. in the Queens Bench Division.
31 Actually, it looks like it has been typed up by
32 Barnett Lenton.
33
34 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You know, the sooner you give me a copy of
35 that, the better, rather than storing it up to the last
36 minute. I am not suggesting you are storing it up on
37 purpose.
38
39 MR. MORRIS: We are not doing it deliberately. I have not got
40 a copy myself. The point -----
41
42 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The point is this -- I will tell you why I
43 am concerned about it, because I am not going to prejudge
44 the matter when I have not even read it. I know what the
45 Derbyshire case says. At the moment, that seems to me to
46 be a very different case to this; it was an elected
47 political body, or an elected body; it was not a company
48 like this in which ordinary people -- or anyone else, for
49 that matter -- had shareholdings, stockholdings. But if
50 you are saying that an action should be dismissed because
51 there is no right to bring a libel action, or if you are
52 saying that it should be stayed because there is not a
53 cause of action, you normally should do that by making a
54 specific application before one embarks on the litigation
55 at all. Now, I appreciate you say: "Oh, well, there is
56 only this case on 28th June." But, whenever you heard of
57 it, you should have said: "May we make the application now,
58 please?"
59
60 MR. MORRIS: Well, I think we stated in our opening speeches
