Day 157 - 18 Jul 95 - Page 21


     
     1        discoverable on those grounds.  But if can come back to
     2        that maybe?  There was another ground for discovery but
     3        I will come back to that.
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
     6
     7   MS. STEEL:   On the provision of transcripts either by the court
     8        or on our access to transcripts, if the transcripts that
     9        are being made are official transcripts, then as parties to
    10        an action we should be provided with any official records
    11        of the proceedings either through public funds if we are
    12        too poor to be able to pay œ350 a day, or by allowing us to
    13        make our own copies of the transcripts since, as Dave has
    14        gone into, the court should ensure that there is equality
    15        of arms, because that is considered by the European
    16        Commission of Human Rights to be an essential element of a
    17        fair trial.
    18
    19        If the transcripts are not official transcripts, then the
    20        court has the power under the Contempt of the Court Act to
    21        set such conditions as it thinks fit which was already
    22        referred to by Mr. Rampton this morning.  So, perhaps, I do
    23        not need to go to the White Book, although I can, if you
    24        want, such conditions could be that the Plaintiffs make
    25        available or allow access to any transcripts so produced by
    26        the use of the court's facilities, i.e. the tape recording
    27        being made in court -----
    28
    29   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is not though, as I understand it, the
    30        transcript is not a Lord Chancellor's Department transcript
    31        produced by the Recording Department.
    32
    33   MS. STEEL:   So if it is not an official transcript -----
    34
    35   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is an official transcript; it is coming
    36        from the Shorthand Writer.
    37
    38   MS. STEEL:   Then the court has the power to impose such
    39        conditions as it thinks proper.
    40
    41   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  But where do you get that from?  What is your
    42        authority for that?
    43
    44   MS. STEEL:  Can we just clarify?  Are you saying it is an
    45        official transcript or it is not?
    46
    47   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You tell me.  Decide which it is and then
    48        point me at something which gives me the power to do
    49        anything with it.
    50 
    51   MS. STEEL:  We are putting an alternative argument because we 
    52        have not really been able to find out whether or not they 
    53        are official.
    54
    55   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Take them one at a time then.
    56
    57   MS. STEEL:  Right, if they are official, then as parties to an
    58        action we should be provided with any official records of
    59        the proceedings.
    60

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