Day 309 - 03 Dec 96 - Page 34


     
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     2   MR. RAMPTON:  That must be so.
     3
     4   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It came after the case of Bingham L.J. and
     5        said -----
     6
     7   MR. RAMPTON:  Gillick, I think; or it might have been Skuse.
     8
     9   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Skuse was Bingham L.J.  It is the one which
    10        I photocopied from The Times for you.
    11
    12   MR. RAMPTON:  Moral culpability, in all circumstances, is and
    13        must be, whether it is a company or a human being, must be
    14        the underlying element in virtually all defamations.  There
    15        are one or two, like uncreditworthiness, impending
    16        bankruptcy, which are said to be libels -- or, indeed,
    17        certain contagious diseases -- said to be defamatory
    18        without law.  But for the vast majority, it must be that
    19        the sense conveyed is one of moral culpability.
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If you are right, that there are -----
    22
    23   MR. MORRIS:  Then, does that mean that if the text does not say
    24        that the party has moral culpability specifically, on top
    25        of -- say it says "exploits workers", say it says
    26        "McDonald's exploit their workers", then that is not
    27        defamatory in itself; that is just a fact?
    28
    29   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It depends what the imputation is.  It may
    30        say one thing expressly, it may say several things
    31        expressly, but the imputation, at the end of the day,
    32        whether it has the word "wrongful", "improper", "culpable"
    33        or not, may not matter.  But the imputation, Mr. Rampton,
    34        has to be of some improper, wrongful, culpable behaviour
    35         ---
    36
    37   MR. RAMPTON:  Of course.  Mr. Morris's -----
    38
    39   MR. JUSTICE BELL: -- if it is to be defamatory.
    40
    41   MR. RAMPTON:  -- helpful intervention illustrates that point
    42        very nicely, if he does not mind my saying so.  Very often,
    43        the actual word "wrongly" or "immorally" or "improperly"
    44        never appears in a libel at all.
    45
    46   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No.
    47
    48   MR. RAMPTON:  The imputation is usually derived from a
    49        particular passage set in context, which is why context --
    50        and particularly in this case -- is so vitally important. 
    51 
    52   MR. MORRIS:  All I am saying is -- as we are arguing on a point 
    53        of law here -- that if people believe, as they have the
    54        right to -- and I will defend their right to the death --
    55        that, for example, the system that we have exploits
    56        children, exploits workers, exploits animals, and that is
    57        bad, then, obviously, are we therefore saying that -- I
    58        have lost my train of thought.  I mean, they should not
    59        have to prove additional -----
    60

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