Day 309 - 03 Dec 96 - Page 32


     
     1        the next one.
     2
     3   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes.  There is a neologism, my Lord, at the bottom
     4        of page 9, which I rather like, which I do not think
     5        actually exists -- in the bracket in the footnote.
     6
     7   MS. STEEL:  What did you say it was?
     8
     9   MR. RAMPTON:  A neologism; that is a newly coined word.  In the
    10        penultimate line -- I wish I had written it, but I did not
    11         -- "a very misbalanced account".  It should be
    12        "unbalanced".
    13
    14   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  If I could just look at meaning -----
    15
    16   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes.
    17
    18   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If the meaning were this -- and I will just
    19        read out what I have put in my note, and if you want to
    20        come back on it after the midday adjournment and say what
    21        you wish then -- but if the meaning were something as
    22        follows:  the Plaintiffs, by their advertising and
    23        marketing, deliberately and wrongly exploit children for
    24        their own profit, aiming nearly all their advertising at
    25        them, making them feel that they are not normal if they do
    26        not eat at McDonald's, persuading them to put pressure on
    27        their parents to take them there, and seducing them into
    28        eating poor food -- perhaps one should say it is seducing
    29        them into eating poor and possibly poisonous food -- would
    30        that, in fact, go beyond the meaning ---
    31
    32   MR. RAMPTON:  I have just been wondering about that.
    33
    34   MR. JUSTICE BELL: -- you have pleaded?  I am not talking about
    35        whether it would be justified yet.  But would it go beyond
    36         -----
    37
    38   MR. RAMPTON:  I am a bit worried about that.  I have not --
    39        obviously, I like it very much, but.....
    40
    41   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Well, whether you like it probably depends,
    42        at the end of the day, whether I say it is justified or
    43        not.
    44
    45   MR. RAMPTON:  I know that.  But I have some confidence that it
    46        cannot be justified.  I may be wrong about that.  No, my
    47        Lord, in fact, I do not think so.  It is differently worded
    48        and it adheres a bit more closely to the text of the
    49        leaflet ---
    50 
    51   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It does. 
    52 
    53   MR. RAMPTON:  -- than the pleaded meanings do.  But remembering
    54        (a) the only barrier to the judge or the jury, as the case
    55        may be, as your Lordship has just said, it must not be more
    56        serious, variations in terminology which convey the same
    57        message are unobjectionable.  It sounds patronising, but
    58        I do not mean it like that.  Plainly, if one looks at (J)
    59        and (K) together, and indeed (M) and your Lordship's
    60        nutrition meaning, which is all part of the context so far

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