Day 102 - 13 Mar 95 - Page 09
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2 MR. RAMPTON: That I will do probably -- so do not let
3 Mr. Morris or Ms. Steel think this is a promise -- by means
4 of some discovery. It may be that I will decide to -- I do
5 not think I will -- stand on my strict rights and say
6 nothing in advance of his giving evidence.
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What normally happens, if someone is
9 cross-examined about credit, that is what happens. They
10 are cross-examined about it and, generally speaking, the
11 person who has cross-examined them has their answers and
12 cannot then set about proving that the answers are wrong.
13 By the same token, you are not normally allowed to ask a
14 witness of your own about matters which might eventually go
15 to the credit of a subsequent witness on the other side,
16 which is why I raise this with Mr. Rampton.
17
18 MR. MORRIS: Yes, we did -- I do not know if you recall --
19 object when Mr. Rampton cross-examined Mr. Horowitz about
20 Stephen Gardner, about some supposed vegetarian conspiracy
21 amongst the Attorney Generals of the United States. We
22 objected at that stage about that, but he was allowed to
23 continue that line of questioning.
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25 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, he can certainly do that. Can I give
26 you an example -- not this case -- if one party was going
27 to call a witness about a matter of fact, and that witness
28 had a whole series of convictions for dishonesty of one
29 kind or another, when he actually came into the witness
30 box, the other party would be able to cross-examine him
31 about those with a view to later suggesting that he was
32 someone whose account of anything is suspect, to say the
33 least.
34
35 What you could not then do, if he said: "No, I never; you
36 must have got the wrong person, it was not me", what the
37 person cross-examining cannot do is then start to call
38 evidence about that, you are left with the answer being
39 cross-examination as to credit. What the person who is
40 going to cross-examine on that basis cannot do is, before
41 the witness is called, call a witness of his own to prove
42 that he is dishonest.
43
44 There are in court, put shortly, very considerable
45 restrictions on how far you can go as to evidence you can
46 call on a matter which goes as to credit, pure credit,
47 because if he says it was black, you can call evidence that
48 it was white. But there are very severe restrictions on
49 calling evidence which merely goes as to whether the person
50 is honest or has a reason for wanting to tell lies and so
51 on.
52
53 It sometimes get rather unrealistic, I am afraid, but those
54 are the rules. If you wanted to hear it from the witness
55 box now so that you have some idea of what Mr. Bruton might
56 face in cross-examination, there you are. I would still be
57 very much against it myself because I could not accept it
58 as admissible evidence -- could I, Mr. Rampton?
59
60 MR. RAMPTON: No, my Lord. I am almost certain your Lordship
