Day 048 - 08 Nov 94 - Page 03

     
     1   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  But all these are matters of comments which
     2        you can direct to the weight which I should attach, if any,
     3        to Mr. Miles's evidence in due course.
     4
     5   MS. STEEL:  It is just that Sue Dibb made a statement referring
     6        to a book that she had written and that was disclosed, and
     7        yet Mr. Rampton seemed to think she should have to provide
     8        all the references to back that up.
     9
    10   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I do not know whether Mr. Rampton chose to do
    11        it that way; he may have made a positive choice, I do not
    12        know.  But there were two occasions that I recall in
    13        Mr. Miles's statement where he started a sentence
    14        "according to research".  I cannot remember what he then
    15        went on to say, and I have no intention of looking back at
    16        Mr. Miles's statement, since it was not incorporated into
    17        his evidence-in-chief, unless you choose to refer me to it
    18        for some purpose in the future.
    19
    20        But counsel, or you, when you call a witness, are perfectly
         entitled not to adduce matters which occur in the statement
    22        in evidence; it is entirely a matter for your choice.  For
    23        all I know, when you call Miss Dibb, you might totally
    24        ignore the book or booklet which she wrote and just ask her
    25        questions in relation to personal experience.  If you do
    26        require her book and, for instance, she read out a
    27        paragraph or a sentence which then had, for example, a
    28        little "10" at the end of the sentence, one could see that
    29        "10" was such and such a paper, she might go on expressly
    30        to rely upon whatever reference "10" was, but she would be
    31        implicitly, it might be thought, relying upon reference
    32        number "10" for support for that statement; and then the
    33        other side are entitled to say, "We would like to see that,
    34        since you are relying upon that paper or research, and we
    35        would like to see if it actually does support what you
    36        say."
    37
    38   MS. STEEL:  I am still confused, because it still seems like
    39        Mr. Miles repeated some of the things, not all of the
    40        things, that were in his statement which, in his statement,
         mentioned research, but just did not mention the word
    42        "research"; and then how is it treated?  Is it treated
    43        like it is just his personal opinion, or is it treated like
    44        it is backed up by reality?
    45
    46   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is treated as just his personal opinion
    47        based upon his expertise and experience, save in so far as
    48        he is making an ordinary statement of fact, such as any
    49        witness may make, that on such and such a day, such and
    50        such happened. 
    51 
    52        But the point is, one has got to keep in mind -- and even 
    53        lawyers often blur the boundaries -- that which is
    54        admissible in evidence; first of all, whether it is
    55        something that is admissible in evidence and, secondly,
    56        what weight should be attached to it.  I did not hear
    57        anything yesterday, subject to any more detailed argument
    58        you make to me later, which I thought was inadmissible, or
    59        I cannot call it to mind now.
    60