Day 240 - 24 Apr 96 - Page 27
1
2 What I cannot do, and it must have cropped up a dozen
3 times, I remember particularly we had it over what it meant
4 to put "Mc" as a prefix to a word, and we had authority
5 referred to then which stated, as you will recall, that
6 what I cannot accept is evidence as to what the ordinary
7 meaning of English words is from the witness box.
8
9 MS. STEEL: I do not think that is the point though.
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11 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is the point.
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13 MS. STEEL: The point is the evidence is about what the ordinary
14 usage is of the word used by the campaigning organisation
15 of which Mr. Secrett has a great deal of experience.
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17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, it was not. I did not interpret it in
18 that way. It went on in that way but there is no need to
19 have an argument about it now as long as you realise, and
20 since you are conducting the case as well, it seems to me
21 useful to say as long as anyone in the witness box
22 realises, that I cannot hear evidence from the witness box
23 about what ordinary English words or what terms mean as
24 they appear in the leaflet.
25
26 It is important for a witness to say, "When I use the word
27 'rainforest' in my statement I mean this", that is fair
28 enough because I need to know what the statement means. If
29 the witness says, "When I use the word 'rainforest' in the
30 witness box, I mean this," then that is all right because
31 it is important for me to understand what the witness means
32 when he says something in the witness box.
33
34 MS. STEEL: It is important about what the campaign was about,
35 not just about what one individual ----
36
37 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I understand that, I have heard that already
38 and I heard similar evidence about Mr. Monbiot's campaign
39 and what he meant by "rainforest" when he was campaigning.
40
41 MS. STEEL: Yes. What I would like to be able to do is after
42 Mr. Secrett has finished his evidence is point you to some
43 of these examples because I am actually concerned about the
44 way that Mr. Rampton is trying to set the agenda.
45
46 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If it concerns you, you can do it on Friday
47 because I have been told that legal matters are going to be
48 raised on Friday, Mr. Morris did that. Do it then and not
49 during Mr. Secrett's evidence.
50
51 MS. STEEL: Okay.
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53 MR. JUSTICE BELL: In case there is any misunderstanding about
54 it, we will discuss it generally then, if you wish, on
55 Friday when we will have plenty of time.
56
57 THE WITNESS: Your Honour, could I ask you question on this
58 point?
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes?
