Day 050 - 10 Nov 94 - Page 15

     
     1        construction which must be put on it, as if Mr. Miles was a
     2        lawyer -- which, so far as I am aware, he is not.
     3
     4        It seems to me that these are all matters you can address
     5        to me in due course, if, at the end of the day, having
     6        heard all the evidence, you judge them to be sufficient
     7        weight to justify comment.
     8
     9   MS. STEEL:  (To the witness)  Are you saying that the
    10        regulations that are in here are not to the letter of the
    11        law, that there are all kinds of other things that have to
    12        be taken into consideration as well?
    13        A.  No, I am not saying that.  The ITC Code, which we are
    14        looking at under clause 3(b) is, as you put it, the letter
    15        of the law, the letter of the Code.  The words are very
    16        carefully evaluated, and they mean what they say, and they
    17        have to be followed in the spirit as well as the letter.
    18
    19        The other document which we were looking at earlier is
    20        notes of guidance by what is now the BACC, to help
         advertising agencies and people writing scripts to see what
    22        some of those words might mean, how they might be
    23        interpreted.  They are additional explanations, but they
    24        are not additional rules.  They are amplification of the
    25        rules that exist.
    26
    27   Q.   So the rules that exist are open to various different
    28        interpretations and different arguments?
    29        A.  Indeed.  All words are open to interpretation.
    30
    31   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is so of every single rule I have ever
    32        heard in last 31 and a half years, quite frankly.  They are
    33        always subject to debate.
    34
    35        All I am saying is that I do not think it is being
    36        particularly productive cross-examining Mr. Miles about the
    37        proper construction to be put on this one.
    38
    39   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, as a matter of law, there is quite recent
    40        authority that the interpretation of any document, if it is
         a matter of construction, is confined to your Lordship.
    42
    43   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You want to put one construction on that?  We
    44        are, as usual, spending more time as a result of an
    45        intervention, perhaps, than not.  But that does mean to say
    46        that there should not be interventions to try to keep the
    47        matter on course.
    48
    49        You have asked Mr. Miles a number of questions about this
    50        particular matter.  At the end of the day, it is for me to 
    51        make of it what I will and to make of the ad what I will, 
    52        if you want to refer me to the particular ad. 
    53
    54   MS. STEEL:  There is a point I think that is relevant, which is
    55        that a line being taken by the Plaintiffs is that their ads
    56        are okay, because they are complying with the regulations,
    57        but the point is, if the regulations are not set down and
    58        fixed, that may be completely meaningless.
    59
    60   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Having raised the matter and touched on it,