Day 101 - 10 Mar 95 - Page 55


     
     1   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, we have had this accusation before.  We
     2        have had a misquotation by Ms. Steel on two occasions of
     3        what I said in opening this case.  It might be useful if I
     4        just reminded the Defendants, through your Lordship, of
     5        what I actually said in opening this case.  It is on page
     6        44 of the opening, which is Tuesday, 28th June; so-called
     7        day one.   I said this:
     8
     9        "McDonald's do not dispute the right of anyone at all, if
    10        that should be his honest view, to say in strong terms if
    11        he wishes that he disapproves of keeping and killing
    12        animals for human consumption.  That is not what this case
    13        is about.  It is entirely a matter of opinion.  What
    14        McDonald's do object to, however, is gross misdescription
    15        of the facts underlying the expression of such opinions.
    16        Thus, in this case, while McDonald's unreservedly accept
    17        that a person holding strong views on the matter might
    18        honestly describe the slaughter of animals for food as
    19        'Murder'", and your Lordship will notice that I did not
    20        use the word "torture" ----
    21
    22   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I know, but he was not ----
    23
    24   MR. RAMPTON:  I now say I did not, contrary to what Ms. Steel
    25        has twice said, mention the word "torture" for the reasons
    26        I have explained to your Lordship.
    27
    28        I now go on with the quotation:  "McDonald's emphatically
    29        do not accept that that person or those people are entitled
    30        to colour their opinion and to try to excite support for it
    31        by falsely asserting as a matter of fact that the animals
    32        which McDonald's use", and I am now taking the words from
    33        the pamphlet, "'Often struggle to escape from the killing
    34        line and become frantic as they watch the animal in front
    35        of them being slaughtered; frequently have their throats
    36        cut whilst still fully conscious'.  None of those factual
    37        assertions has any basis in fact so far as the animals used
    38        by McDonald's are concerned".
    39
    40        Then I went on:  "Nor is it true that the conditions in
    41        which McDonald's animals" -- that is shorthand for the
    42        animals used by McDonald's -- "are reared are in any sense
    43        inhumane or cruel."
    44
    45   MS. STEEL:  That is a matter of opinion.
    46
    47   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What I do not think is useful is if one ends
    48        up at the end of the day just arguing with the witness, if
    49        that is what it amounts to.  You have your point of view.
    50        The witness' point of view may differ.  What you really 
    51        want to do is try to elicit from him matters of fact which 
    52        enable you to press your point of view at the end of the 
    53        day.
    54
    55   MS. STEEL:  We do have our point of view, and it is just a shame
    56        that the Plaintiffs have decided to try to stifle it by
    57        bringing this case.
    58
    59   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  On what I have witnessed in this court, that
    60        is not so.  But go on with your questions as to matters of

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