Day 154 - 13 Jul 95 - Page 55
1 the basis of what had been said on Monday. You would not
2 have lost anything so far as being able to cope with the
3 evidence is concerned. What you would be able to do is,
4 say, take what was said on Monday as an example, "We are
5 entitled to discovery of the transcript of it for this
6 reason", actually looking at what was said.
7
8 So if you want to set up a test situation, as it were, for
9 discovery, bizarre though it may seem, what you actually
10 want is a transcript for yesterday, today and tomorrow but
11 not Monday.
12
13 MR. MORRIS: I am guided by the court.
14
15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If you accept Mr. Rampton is not going to say
16 that it was through your own choice and therefore ----
17
18 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I really do not see why your Lordship
19 cannot decide the matter as a question or principle. It
20 would be a sort of declaratory judgment, I agree, but
21 I would be content with that.
22
23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I would be prepared to deal with it on that
24 basis. It gets rid of the fiction. I have no problem with
25 ruling on discovery even though in fact you have all the
26 documentation.
27
28 MR. MORRIS: We could always anyway apply for the transcript, if
29 it is on Tuesday, for the Tuesday's hearing because that
30 would be ----
31
32 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, because you might be in a very difficult
33 situation there. Did you get transcripts of all the
34 interlocutory hearings in July and November the following
35 morning, for instance, of 1993?
36
37 MR. MORRIS: I do not think there were any transcripts. It was
38 mainly in November and December we got transcripts.
39
40 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Did you actually got transcripts the
41 following morning or some time later?
42
43 MR. MORRIS: I do not think so.
44
45 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Were there transcripts at all at the time?
46
47 MS. STEEL: For some of the hearings.
48
49 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, there were transcripts of the November
50 and December hearings but we did not have daily
51 transcripts.
52
53 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I know there were transcripts which came
54 later, but as the argument progressed Ms. Steel and
55 Mr. Morris were not getting each morning a transcript of
56 what was argued the day before?
57
58 MR. RAMPTON: No, they were not and nor were we.
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You coped perfectly well with that argument,
