Day 284 - 22 Oct 96 - Page 41


     
     1        obvious anyway which ones are pertinent to this section.
     2
     3   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  B is that images of third world poverty often
     4        used by charities divert attention from one cause, namely
     5        exploitation by multi-nationals such as the first and
     6        second plaintiffs.
     7
     8   MR. MORRIS:   That is under the picture.
     9
    10   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  And then C, which reads that the first
    11        and second plaintiffs search endlessly for more and more
    12        profit.  Further, that by eating the food of the first and
    13        second plaintiffs one helps them wreck the planet.
    14
    15   MR. MORRIS:   Right.  So we have obviously then been prepared to
    16        take on board that issue from the first, even though it was
    17        not pleaded by the plaintiffs.  But, I mean, we would say
    18        that they are facts, those two points are facts.
    19
    20   MR JUSTICE BELL:  You want to reserve your position at least in
    21        relation to that, do you, as to whether you want to treat
    22        them as statements of fact?
    23
    24   MR. MORRIS:   Well, I will reserve that, if you like.
    25
    26   MR JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    27
    28   MR. MORRIS:   I mean, some statements are both fact and comment,
    29        are they not?
    30
    31   MR JUSTICE BELL:  Well.....
    32
    33   MR. MORRIS:   I mean, some things are true and they are -- is
    34        that not true?  Can it be fact and comment?
    35
    36   MR. RAMPTON:   My Lord, the law, I think, on this is fairly
    37        clear.  You can have an opinion which happens to be true as
    38        a matter of fact; you cannot make a statement of fact which
    39        is capable of being an opinion -- if that is clear.
    40
    41   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Can you say that again?
    42
    43   MR. RAMPTON:   I am not sure it is right.  The law is that you
    44        can, if you have the evidence at your disposal, defend what
    45        has the appearance, feeling and expression of opinion as
    46        though it were a statement of fact, and prove it to be
    47        true.  That is not true of all expressions of opinion,
    48        obviously.
    49
    50   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You can defend an opinion as an expression of 
    51        fact which is true. 
    52 
    53   MR. RAMPTON:   Yes -- the most obvious example of which would be
    54        those expressions of opinion or those comments which appear
    55        as inferences.
    56
    57   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    58
    59   MR. RAMPTON:   In other words: "From what I know of him, that
    60        judge is not fit to hold office" -- you could defend that

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