Day 070 - 20 Dec 94 - Page 62


     
     1        and we have been under continuous pressure for a long
     2        time.  I just want the court to try to bear it in mind that
     3        there is a limit to the amount of pressure which we can
     4        over that length of time maintain, that we can cope with.
     5        That is all really.
     6
     7   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If at any stage there is anything you want to
     8        say to me on that topic do not hesitate to do so.  We have
     9        got to do our best to press on with the case without making
    10        anyone save time that they become ineffectual.  So by all
    11        means raise any problem with me in the future and I will
    12        judge it as it crops up.
    13
    14   MR. MORRIS:  One thing which we discussed is the possibility of
    15        having some kind of break in the case.
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I think you must raise that at some specific
    18        time with some specific request to me.  I do not propose to
    19        say anything more about that now.  If more than a few days
    20        break, apart from one of the formal legal vacations, are at
    21        issue I will hear argument on both sides and deal with it.
    22        You have got three weeks less a day or half a day before we
    23        resume.  You have to try to have a bit of a break during
    24        that time.  You then get something like just under two
    25        weeks at Easter and you get just over a week, about seven
    26        weeks later, at Whitsun.  Those are the formal legal
    27        vacations.  I am not contemplating cutting into them.
    28
    29   MR. MORRIS:  Do you know when Easter is at all?
    30
    31   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It runs from the beginning of April.
    32
    33   MS. STEEL:   It might sound daft, but there is one thing.  It
    34        may seem like three weeks is like a long break but by the
    35        time we have sorted out all our papers from the whole term
    36        because we do not have time to sort them out as we are
    37        going along, gone through this and that, done all the kind
    38        of household chores that have been piling up, I will not
    39        say for the whole term but, you know, arrangements with
    40        making repairs and sorting out rent problems, things like
    41        that, we actually do not get left with that much
    42        preparation time.
    43
    44   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  All I can say at the moment, because I am not
    45        going to give any indication of what I might or might not
    46        do, all I am going to do is say you must feel free to raise
    47        this.  When you do raise it I would like you to raise it
    48        with a specific suggestion in mind, do you understand, as
    49        to what breaks you say you need, why you need them, related
    50        to whatever stage we have got to during the trial.  I will 
    51        listen to you, I will listen to Mr. Rampton and, in so far 
    52        as there is disagreement, I will give directions. 
    53
    54   MR. MORRIS:  I think it really applies to when we see a schedule
    55        that is laid out for a year, there is great pressure to
    56        keep to that schedule.  If, for example, we feel that we
    57        need a week's break or something, then it is really
    58        difficult to do that when these witnesses have been booked
    59        and they are getting fed up because they have been shifted
    60        three times, all that kind of stuff.

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