Day 025 - 16 Sep 94 - Page 08
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2 Q. My Lord, I ask that question because it may be (though I
3 do not think it is so) the defendants are unaware of that
4 rule.
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6 MS. STEEL: I was just going to ask how that is relevant.
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8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You are not allowed to discuss the case with
9 any witness once he or she is called into the witness box,
10 but you may well not have been told that. I normally say
11 to -- is there a rule to that effect in the States?
12 A. No, your Lordship, it is pretty much to the opposite;
13 the parties are free -----
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15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do not worry because -----
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17 MR. RAMPTON: It is not a criticism of the witness, my Lord.
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19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, it is not. I had assumed, because
20 Mr. Gardner is a lawyer, that there was no need to say it
21 to him.
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23 The position is this, for the future. Once a witness is
24 called into the witness box he should not be spoken to
25 about his evidence in the case. It may be necessary to
26 say something like "Do not forget to bring that document
27 the Judge" or "Mr. Rampton mentioned in the morning", or
28 "Get back in plenty of time", or something like that, but
29 you must not discuss the case.
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31 The reason for it is anxiety that the person who has
32 called the witness may want to give them hints as to what
33 they should or should not say, or how they should or
34 should not say it, in the light of the way the evidence
35 has gone so far.
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37 You may remember that, I think it was Dr. Arnott, when
38 Dr. Arnott left the witness box last term, I expressly
39 said that, so far as I was concerned, there would be
40 nothing wrong with Mr. Rampton talking to Dr. Arnott --
41 I think it was in relation to some extra documentation
42 which had come to light ---
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44 MR. RAMPTON: Yes.
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46 MR. JUSTICE BELL: -- which Mr. Rampton had not seen before
47 Dr. Arnott was called. I expressly said that so that
48 Mr. Rampton would know that he could "break the rule"
49 which I have just explained to you in that instance for
50 that reason. When there are qualified lawyers appearing
51 for both sides, if one thinks that he may want to talk to
52 the witness about some matter, normally some matter of
53 organisation, he or she says in open court before the
54 Judge: "I would like to have a word with Mr. X with a
55 view to this that or the other", so it is all out in the
56 open and there can be no misunderstanding if Mr. X is seen
57 speaking to the barrister in the corridor; no-one is going
58 to suspect the barrister of coaching the witness after he
59 has started his evidence. Do you understand?
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