The Gazette 1912-13

The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.

[DECEMBER, 1912

60

Bill. The Council considered the matter, and they came to the conclusion that this County Courts Bill dealt only with procedure in those Courts, while the Sheriffs were officers of the High Court as well as the County Court. The Sheriffs themselves, some seven years ago, sent in for consideration a separate Bill dealing with their offices altogether and making them applicable to both Courts. The Council went through that Bill and approved of it as amended. The Bill had not been passed, and it lay upon the Sheriffs to bring it forward again, when it would have the support of the Society. As to Mr. White's suggestion, whenever there was a surplus over the actual expense of prosecu tions, it would go to the Solicitors' Benevolent Association. The report was adopted. MR. CRAIG moved, in accordance with notice, " That the Bye-laws, and other regula tions of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland, be amended in such a manner as will insure that the annual report and audited accounts of the Society for the previous twelve months shall be in the hands of all members of the Society at least fourteen days before the last day for nominating members for election on the new Council for the ensuing year, so that the general members of the Society will have an opportunity, before being called upon to elect the new Council, of knowing what the outgoing Council have done for the profession during their year of office and that such of the members of the out going Council as do not intend to seek re- election, shall state so in their report. He wished to say at once that they had no spirit of antagonism towards the Council in dealing with this matter. They wanted to make the Incorporated Law Society—as the President said—the Society for every member of the profession. But the members would see that the report did not reach country members in anything like reasonable time to allow them to digest what was in it and enable them to decide whether they should attend the meeting or not. As far as he could see there could be no difficulty whatever in the report being in the hands of the members in the time they asked in the motion. The

incidentally, that the writer was also one of the best Sheriffs in Ireland. He wrote to say that he understood the members of the Law Society had thrown over the Sheriffs. Now that was a wholly erroneous impression for the Sheriffs of Ireland to take up. It would be madness on the part of that Society to throw over the Sheriffs. Many of the Sheriffs were Solicitors, and they especially should get their support and protection. As far as he understood the Bill it dealt very largely with the Sheriffs, and the amend ments to be made would enable Sheriffs to make good debts out of bad ones in a great number of cases. MR. R. A. MACNAMARA said that when the Sheriffs' Bill was brought in, the Council had an interview with them, and considered the matter in a sympathetic manner. The Council gave the Sheriffs every possible assistance, and it was not their fault that no legislation in relief of the Sheriffs had been passed. MR. STANUELL said there had been cordial co-operation on the part of the County Court Judges, the Law Society, and the public in regard to the County Court procedure. This was, he thought, the first time that had taken place, and it was a great credit to the President to have brought about that happy state of affairs. It looked as if they were going to have an unopposed measure for the reform of the County Courts. It was to be hoped that the principle of unity of action would be more generally adopted not only in Dublin but throughout the country (hear, hear). He had always held the theory that the interests of the profession and the interests of the public were really the same. If the law be satisfactory and good, they got plenty of it to do, and the public resorted to it, because they knew the result would be satisfactory. But if the law be bad it was very expensive for them to work and very expensive for the public to pay for and get no benefit from it. MR. W. GROVE WHITE asked that penalties recovered by the Society should be handed over to the Solicitors' Benevolent Association. THE PRESIDENT said there was no doubt a representation was made to them as to trying to make Sheriffs permanent in this