Day 190 - 23 Nov 95 - Page 18


     
     1        person authorised to speak on behalf of the Company when a
     2        journalist makes an enquiry?  One only needs to put it like
     3        that to see that the answer must be "no", in the light of
     4        the way in which the positive case is put by the court in
     5        this particular instance.
     6
     7   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just pause there.  (Pause)  Yes.
     8
     9   MR. RAMPTON:  The judgment of Archibald J. goes on from the end
    10        of that sentence:
    11
    12             "If the statements had been made to a
    13             stranger...."
    14
    15        -- and for this purpose it is clear that Archibald J. did
    16        not regard the police officer to whom the statement is made
    17        as a stranger, because he of course was a necessary part of
    18        the transaction which was demanded by the exigency of the
    19        occasion.
    20
    21             "If the statements had been made to a stranger
    22             possibly they would not have been admissible, on
    23             the ground that he was not acting within the
    24             scope of his authority.  But where they are made
    25             in the course of his duty in initiating
    26             proceedings and putting the police in motion,
    27             there they are made within the scope of his
    28             authority, and are therefore admissible and
    29             binding on the company."
    30
    31        My Lord, that prompts me to put it another way:  could it
    32        conceivably be said that it was within the scope of the
    33        duty of an Assistant Manager to answer inquiries from the
    34        press?  The next case -----
    35
    36   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just pause a moment.  Do you have a spare
    37        copy of this file for the shorthand writers?
    38
    39   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes, I have.  I have another one somewhere.  It is
    40        not nicely tabulated, I am afraid, or whatever the word
    41        is -- divided up -- in the way that one your Lordship's is,
    42        but I have got a complete copy.
    43
    44   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What we will do, we will take the five-minute
    45        break there; and what would be helpful to the shorthand
    46        writers is if someone could put Post-its in, instead of the
    47        tabs.
    48
    49                            (Short Adjournment)
    50 
    51   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, the next authority is tab 6, 
    52        Barnett, Hoares & Co. v. The South London Tramways Company 
    53        (1887) 18 Q.B.D., 815.  Subheading: "Principal and Agent -
    54        Authority - Secretary of Company, Representation by".
    55
    56             "The defendants, a tramway company, employed
    57             contractors to execute certain works.  By the
    58             contract the defendants had a right to retain a
    59             certain percentage of the amounts for which
    60             their engineer from time to time certified on

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