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.
