Day 146 - 03 Jul 95 - Page 41


     
     1        matter I am going to decide; I could not decide it unless
     2        I had evidence on oath on it, and I am certainly not going
     3        to embark upon that exercise) that someone has actually
     4        been putting verbatim bits of the transcript into the
     5        public domain and if, rightly or wrongly, that has upset
     6        the party who is paying for it, and if you would like to
     7        continue to have the advantage of having transcripts for
     8        your own use, for instance, for cross-examination and
     9        making comment to me in due course, then you have to think
    10        about -- this is not advice to you -- what it seems to me
    11        it would be worth thinking about is whether from now on, if
    12        you are provided with transcripts and the benefit of
    13        CaseView, you should just keep them to yourselves, as
    14        I have already said.
    15
    16        If you thought that that is what you would be prepared to
    17        do, then you have to find out what the First and Second
    18        Plaintiffs' attitude is in relation to that, but that is
    19        just possibilities for you to consider.
    20
    21   MS. STEEL:   There were a couple of other things I wanted to
    22        say.  I am not really sure what the complaint is because,
    23        as far as individual sentences, brief statements or
    24        whatever are concerned, as I understand it, journalists are
    25        free to attend the court if they want to.  They can report
    26        what they want.  If the objection is, well, I do not know
    27        whether the objection is that what is being said is
    28        inaccurate or what.  If the Plaintiffs consider it is
    29        inaccurate then, in theory, it cannot have been done from
    30        the transcripts.
    31
    32   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What I am saying is, I am not going to look
    33        into that.  I am not going to embark upon whether the
    34        matters which appear in quotes could have only come from a
    35        transcript or whether it might have come from a note of
    36        someone sitting in court, be it a member of the press or
    37        anyone else for that matter, took down verbatim.  I am not
    38        going to embark on an exercise of looking into whether
    39        quotes, if they are verbatim quotes (and I certainly am not
    40        going to check), are produced in a partial or impartial or
    41        balanced or unbalanced way.  That is just none of my
    42        business, as far as I am concerned, unless it is suggested
    43        that someone has been guilty of some contempt of court and
    44        it is brought before me in that respect which it has not
    45        been.  But let us leave it there.  Think about the -----
    46
    47   MS. STEEL:  I did have other things that I wanted to say.  I
    48        mean, if you want them done tomorrow, then I will leave it.
    49
    50   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, I would rather everyone just thought 
    51        about the situation.  If you say I have a power to direct 
    52        one way or the other, then you have to give me chapter and 
    53        verse for that power.  If you are suggesting that I should
    54        make a comment one way or another, you have to persuade me
    55        to do that.
    56
    57        Let me just repeat what I have just said and then add a
    58        third thing because I am trying to summarise what I have
    59        said in the last few minutes at greater length.  If you say
    60        I have a power to direct McDonald's to provide you with

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