Day 076 - 18 Jan 95 - Page 25

     
     1        its own right.  A corporate body can only operate by
     2        people.  One is perfectly entitled to argue:  "Look, this
     3        person's position and standing in the company is sufficient
     4        for you to be able to accept that he is the embodiment of
     5        the company in expressing that view".  That is the best way
     6        I can put it in ordinary language.
     7
     8        But when we come to Residents Associations and where you
     9        are talking in relation to environment/index.html">litter of what the position
    10        actually was on the street then, my view, subject to any
    11        further argument, is that the Honorary Secretary, for
    12        instance, of an Association cannot give evidence,
    13        admissible evidence, of what other people tell him or have
    14        told him that they have seen.
    15
    16   MS. STEEL:   I do not understand how it can be fair that an
    17        executive of a corporate body can give evidence on behalf
    18        of the rest of that corporate body, but someone in a
    19        comparable situation and position in a Residents
    20        Association, or whatever type of organisation, cannot do
         the same for that organisation.
    22
    23   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is my ruling.  By all means go away to
    24        anyone who can help you as to the legality of the matter
    25        and consider it with them.  It is not as if it is difficult
    26        because these people live only three miles away.
    27
    28        I cannot do more to help you.  You have had Mr. Siddique;
    29        you have had Mr. Stump; you have called Mr. McIntyre.  In
    30        so far as their evidence conflicts, in so far as at the end
    31        of the day it conflicts or is thought to conflict, I will
    32        have to decide which I prefer.  You have letters written by
    33        people who, for all I know, are in their houses or offices
    34        within four or five miles of this building.  It is entirely
    35        up to you, in the light of my ruling, whether you approach
    36        them to see if they can give evidence which is helpful to
    37        your cause.  I am raising it so that you are aware of where
    38        you stand.
    39
    40   MR. MORRIS (To the witness):  Have you copies of the letters?  I
         do not know if they are in the witness bundles.
    42
    43   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  We need the appropriate bundle, do we not?
    44
    45   MR. RAMPTON:  Pink V, my Lord, tab 49.
    46
    47   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Mr. McIntyre, you want divider 49 near the
    48        back.
    49
    50   MR. MORRIS:  You have the bundle of letters in front of you, 
    51        have you? 
    52        A.  I have not reached the letters yet. 
    53
    54   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  They are numbered pages and Mr. Morris will
    55        give you a page number that you can look at.
    56
    57   MR. MORRIS:  Just have a quick look roughly through them.
    58
    59   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Unfortunately, they are not in chronological
    60        order.