The Gazette 1946-49

THE HON. TIMOTHY SULLIVAN THE following letter has been received from the Hon. Timothy Sullivan in reply to the resolution of the Council on the occasion of his retirement from the office of Chief Justice: Shamrock Hill, Stillorgan Road, Dublin, dth May, 1946. Dear Mr. Secretary, I must ask you to excuse my delay in acknowledg– ing the receipt of the resolution adopted by the Council of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland on my retirement. Will you convey to the Council my deep apprecia– tion of the far too generous terms in which they refer to my work as Chief Justice. The kindly relations which always existed between us were due in large measure to the assistance unfailingly given to me by the Council and by the solicitors whom they represent, and I am glad to avail myself of this opportunity to express my. gratitude to both. I thank the Council for their good wishes, and I thank you, Mr. Secretary, for so kindly associating yourself with the resolution. Yours sincerely, TIMOTHY SULLIVAN. LEGAL TEXT BOOKS THE Council have recently considered the difficul– ties experienced by solicitors' apprentices in studying for the Intermediate and Final Examinations of the Society owing to the present scarcity of legal text books. On account of the changes effected by English legislation in subjects such as Real Pro– perty, Conveyancing and Company Law since the setting up of the Irish Free State, the modern editions of English text books on these subjects are not appropriate to this country. Students, consequently, must rely upon the older editions. These editions have been gradually going out of print and are now becoming very difficult to procure, and the Secretary frequently receives letters from apprentices asking where they can obtain copies of the books on the courses. Some years ago the Government was approached by the Council and requested to subsidise the publication of legal text– books, but no step has been taken in this direction. Even if it were now decided to undertake the publication of legal text books in this country a considerable interval of time would elapse before any law books could appear on the market, and

in the interval the difficulties in the way of appren– tices preparing for the Society's examinations would continue to be very great. The Council feel that the responsibility lies upon them to take all possible steps to remedy the situation, and they have therefore decided to purchase as many copies of the appropriate editions of the text books as are available with the object of lending them to appren– tices preparing for the examinations. It has been decided to circularise the profession individually as there may be a number of solicitors who will be prepared to sell law books to the Society for the purpose of the scheme, and the Council hope that the response from the profession will enable them to overcome in part, at least, the present difficulties. DECISIONS OF INTEREST TO THE PROFESSION THERE is a number of recently reported cases either affecting the solicitors' profession or dealing with matters which, although not affecting solicitors personally, fall within the peculiar province of a solicitor's practice. The first of these cases Barratt v. Gough, Thomas & ors. was referred to in the number of the GAZETTE for November last and is now noted as it has been brought to the English Court of Appeal from the Chancery Division (6z T.L.R. 40). The plaintiff in the proceedings was a mortgagor seeking redemption of his mortgage and the defendants were the executors of the deceased mortgagee. The first defendant was also a solicitor who on the occasion of the mortgage had acted for both mortgagor and mortgagee. At the date of the redemption proceedings he was a creditor of the mortgagor for the costs of the mortgage and for certain advances, all of which had become statute-barred. The defendants in the redemption proceedings did not dispute the plain– tiff's right to redeem the mortgage. The sole question raised in the proceedings was whether or not the first-named defendant was entitled to a lien on the title deeds which he had retained all along for the amount due to him by the plaintiff mortgagor . on foot of the costs and moneys advanced. It was decided by the parties that the most convenient method of having this matter determined was to raise it in the redemption proceedings, and accord– ingly the solicitor defendant applied to the Court for an order declaring that he was entitled to a retaining lien on the title deeds. His application was refused by'the High Court. The Court held that once the solicitor became an executor of the deceased mortgagee he ceased to hold the title deeds as solicitor and thereafter held l6