The Gazette 1913-14

[DECEMBER, 1913

The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.

58

Government as a measure to be promoted by them. They sent it down to the County Court Judges for report. The observations of the County Court Judges and their suggestions have been very much misrepre sented in the House of Commons, and that is one of the reasons why I mention this matter here to-day. The representations of the County Court Judges were sent to this Council, and the Council made their counter observations on them, in the main agreeing with every thing the County Court Judges desired. The matter then went back to the Chief Secretary, and after persistent requests on our behalf for information as to what was being done, the Chief Secretary admitted from his place in the House of Commons the necessity for reform, the adequacy of the remedy proposed by the Council, and the public demand that was behind it. We continued asking repeated questions through our colleague, Mr. Brady, in the House to ascertain what was being done with this Bill, and on the 29th May of this year, in reply to a question, it was announced on behalf of the Chief Secretary, who was not present himself, that inasmuch as the County Court Judges recommend the codification of the entire law relating to County Courts in Ireland, and also certain alterations in the existing law, some of which he considered would certainly give rise to controversy, he (the Chief Secretary) regretted that in the existing circumstances there was no opportunity for introducing legislation on the subject. Now, gentlemen, in the whole history of Parliamentary procedure I don't think there is anything more weak or more feeble than the excuse that has been given for not pro ceeding with this Bill. The fact is, I think, that ours is a humdrum piece of legislation which does not make votes for any party, therefore it was thrown aside on the flimsiest excuse that could be raised. As for codifica tion, which was the principal reason given by the Chief Secretary for not proceeding with the Bill, it must be understood that amendment by affirmative statute must precede codification, and that it may be two, three, four, or five years before the Parlia mentary draughtsmen can include it in the codifying statute. Therefore, as^to the first suggestion, there seems to have been no

Mr. W. S. Hayes moved, Mr. G. Collins seconded, and it was resolved that Friday, the 15th May be fixed as the date of the next Half-yearly Meeting. THE PRESIDENT, in moving the adoption of the Annual Report of the Council, said :—I have the honour to propose for your consideration and adoption the Report of the Council of the Society for the past year. The Report has been in your hands for some time, some days at any rate, and I, therefore, do not propose to go through the items in detail. 1 wish to refer to only one or two the principal one, is the COUNTY COURTS (IRELAND) BILL Now, the County Courts (Ireland) Bill has been before the Council and the Society year in and year out for a good many years past. It is intended to bring about a reform in the very antiquated pro cedure of the County Courts—a reform that was more or less antiquated in 1851, when it got the imprimatur of the Legislature. Nearly everything else has advanced, but the procedure in the County Courts has been absolutely at a standstill for upwards of sixty years. Now this is a matter that' really only indirectly affects this Society and the members of this Society. It only affects us through the public. Of course anything that works for the due administration of justice, and that facilitates the public in getting their disputes settled and their business transacted rapidly and efficiently, also works for the benefit of the members of this profession (hear, hear). In this and many other matters that come before the Council and the Society, although we, perhaps, ought not to say it ourselves, we are acting greatly in the interests of the public as well as in the interests of the profession to which we belong. The history of our efforts in connection with this County Courts Bill is written in the present and previous Reports, and I do not propose to go into that history. I only desire to take it up where it was left off in previous Reports. Early in this year we had very high hopes that this Bill would be taken up as a Government measure and pushed through. We had succeeded in reducing it to a Bill that should have pleased everybody, all contentious matters having been excluded. We had got the length of pressing it upon the