Day 157 - 18 Jul 95 - Page 08


     
     1   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It would most help me if you have a copy,
     2        I believe, of the ruling which I made on 4th July; that
     3        ruling was actually given in open court.  It is in the
     4        public domain.  I left the door open for you to come back
     5        if you thought of any further arguments, but sensibly you
     6        have to work on the basis that that is the ruling at the
     7        moment.  So what I am really looking for because you and
     8        Ms. Steel and Mr. Rampton, in fact, argued the matter at
     9        what I would consider to be some considerable length on
    10        that occasion and what I am looking for is anything new
    11        which you want to put before me.
    12
    13   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  I have prepared what I am going to say and it
    14        is just hard to sort of turn it upside-down.
    15
    16   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No.  You kick off but bear in mind that you
    17        have said quite a lot to me already.
    18
    19   MR. MORRIS:  The first thing I want to say before we start is
    20        that we are seeking the protection of the court as
    21        litigants in person, unwaged and unrepresented and denied
    22        legal aid in what is already the longest libel trial in
    23        British history.  There is already a massive imbalance of
    24        resources in this case.  We firmly believe, although we
    25        only got a press report on this, that Lord Chief Justice
    26        Taylor, President of the Judges' Council, in a report by
    27        the Judges' Council, which we do not have a copy of, said:
    28         "Our democratic system depends on everyone being able to
    29        enforce their rights through the courts, whether or not
    30        they can afford a professional lawyer or qualify for legal
    31        aid".  That was reported in The Guardian on 7th July this
    32        month.
    33
    34        On the supposed complexity of this case, the Plaintiffs
    35        succeeded against our wishes in denying us a Jury trial.
    36        I believe from recollection -- I cannot remember exactly --
    37        it was not only the complexity but the length which was
    38        drawn to the attention when the decision was made on that.
    39        If ever a case in British history ever required a simple
    40        matter of that, the unrepresented Defendants having the
    41        same facility as the party on the other side, a massive
    42        multinational, then this is the case in terms of
    43        accessibility to transcripts.
    44
    45        As previously mentioned, on 27th June 1994 McDonald's
    46        solicitors on the eve of the trial wrote, saying:
    47
    48             "Further to the hearing before Mr. Justice Bell
    49             this morning, we wish to inform you that we
    50             propose making two copies of daily transcripts 
    51             of the proceedings from 28th June 1994 until the 
    52             end of the trial available to you in our main 
    53             reception on the ground floor at Beaufort House
    54             every evening."
    55
    56        This unconditional promise and arrangement has continued
    57        for 156 days, but as from today McDonald's have said they
    58        are going to break this agreement and withhold copies of
    59        the transcripts from us.  The effect will be to guarantee
    60        an even greater advantage for McDonald's Corporation and to

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