The Gazette 1933-36

DECEMBER, 1935]

The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.

27

Courts of Justice Bill. The Council has met fourteen times, and there have been forty-four committee .meetings, a great many of which were occupied with the consideration of the new Courts of Justice Bill, which has been under the consideration of the Oireachtas through out the year, and will soon take its place on the Statute Book of this country. I am pleased to say that most of the amendments submitted by your Council during the year were adopted by the Government and inserted in the new Bill which, when passed into law, will, I think, remove many of the complaints we were accustomed to hear for the past ten years in regard to the proceedure and practice of the Courts of Justice of the Irish Free State. It will, I think, be a very useful measure of reform, and will be welcomed not only by legal practitioners but by the general public for the facilities which it offers and the rights it confers. I wish, on behalf of this Society, to thank the Minister for Justice and the Attorney-General for the courtesy and consideration shown to your President and your Council throughout all our dealings with them in reference to our suggested amendments to the Bill. Membership. Turning to the Annual Report of the Council, you will observe that the number of members of the Society has been increased from 775 to 786. This, however, is not as satisfactory as it may appear. There are 1,294 solicitors practising in the Free State, and it is a surprising fact that there are 508 of them who failed during the year to become members of a legal organisation which primarily exists for their own welfare and protection and the maintenance of the dignity and privileges of their own profes sion, of which, I feel sure, they themselves are proud to be members. I hope that in the coming year most of those 508 gentlemen who stand outside this Society will join hands with those within. It is a distinct handicap not to belong to this Society, as those of us who have the use of our magnificent Law Library well know. Members can, of course, have the loan of any book free of charge that the library contains, whether he lives in the city .or the country, by simply commu nicating his wish to the Secretary. If the

solicitors who neglect to join the Society are influenced by the idea that their only loss is want of access to our Library, there again they are wrong, because it should be remembered that the Council of the Society is always available for advice and assistance in helping to advise and elucidate questions of both law and practice. The sooner all the solicitors in the country realise that their Society has done in the past, is doing now and will continue to do, solid and enduring work for the whole profession, the better ; and the value of its industry can, perhaps, be best appreciated by recollection of the fact that it has had forty-four Committee meetings and fourteen Council meetings during the year. Legal Text-Books. At the half-yearly meeting held in the month of Ma}' last I spoke to you at con siderable length on the subject of the want of suitable legal text-books. This is a subject that has been engaging the earnest con sideration of your Council during the year. It has, I am glad to say, attracted attention in other quarters, where the necessity for such books and the difficulty of producing them has been recognised. It is hoped that as soon as the Courts of Justice Bill passes into law, a scheme may be devised for the production and publication of such works as are first urgently necessary. I have hopes that the Government, the Bar and the Universities will all co-operate with your Council in this scheme. Your Council has already signified its willingness to contribute to what may be described as a Publication Fund to meet the cost of production and publication of such legal text-books as are immediately necessary. A book on Local Government Administration is badly wanted. There is no up-to-date book on Housing, although there have been many recent Acts passed dealing with the subject. Vanston^'s book on Local Government and Vanston's book on Public Health both require to be brought up-to-date. No book has been published on either of these subjects since 1919. Carleton's "County Court Practice " and " Wylie's Judicature " are both out of print, and I am informed that Kisbey's " Bankruptcy " will soon be out of print. I mention the foregoing few instances—I am