The Gazette 1946-49

A matter that is closely allied and of scarcely less importance is that of the urgent need of the pro– fession for the publication of legal text books both for students of the law and for practitioners. As everyone is well aware we rely almost exclusively for our standard legal text books on the principal English Law Publishing Firms, and down to the year 1922 and for a few years afterwards the text books published in England were adequate for the needs of Irish lawyers. With the passage of time, however, we arrived at a cross-roads, and English law tended to diverge more and more from, the law of this country. This was to a large extent due to the modernisation of English property, con– veyancing and Company law, while the law of this country has remained unchanged in many aspects for the past twenty-five years. The result has been that the modern English text books which have been published since 1925 deal with statutes which have no application here. So far as common law is concerned there was very little change, but the statute laws in England have been amended and revised to a greater extent. Our students have been compelled to rely upon the pre-i923 editions of standard books such as Williams on Personal Property, Snell on Equity, and Palmer on Company Law. These editions have been very difficult to obtain, and partly, I believe, as a result of the destruction of property in London during the war they have now become almost unprocurable. If our apprentices are to be properly equipped to undertake the practice of the law on being admitted as solicitors they must be provided with the appro– priate legal text books to enable them to acquire the requisite knowledge, and I regret to state the present position is far from satisfactory and is likely to become more so in the future unless some active steps are taken to remedy the position. The Council have not been unmindful of their respon– sibilities in this respect and have pointed out to the Government from time to time the necessity for providing these text books. The war, of course, put a stop to work in this direction, but it is to be hoped that with the return of more normal con– ditions the position will be faced and the necessary funds provided for the publication of up-to-date legal books. Apart from the necessity of our students in their research, practitioners, both solicitors and Counsel, are severely handicapped by having to rely upon old editions of standard text books such as Vanston's Local Government, Wylie's Judicature Acts, O'Connor's Justice of the Peace and the treatises on Company Law. The absence of up-to-date advanced books is bound to retard the administration of justice, and if, as appears likely, the statute law of this country is going to continue on different lines to the laws of II

the subject, but it is hoped that the Council's views will be accepted. We have again had an interview with the Secretary of the Department of Justice in furtherance of our Solicitors Bill. The present position is that the Bill is receiving the attention of the Minister on some points that we were able to express the views of the Council upon. There is reason to hope that the Bill will be considered by the Executive Council in the immediate future. The Secretary to "the Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests was interviewed on the subject of the complaint of members that clients are sometimes written to direct with reference to the publication of the Statutory Notice and without reference to the solicitor on record. It was sug– gested to the Secretary that writing direct to the personal representatives should be discontinued as it causes embarrassment to solicitors, and that in lieu thereof in cases where the notice has not been published a letter should be written' to the solicitor pointing out the statutory obligation to do so. In many cases there is some good reason for the delay, and in such cases we thought the Commis– sioners might reasonably agree to deal with the solicitor direct. As a result of our conversation an agreement was arrived at that provided the solicitor notifies the Commissioners and lodges the Probate or Letters of Administration as soon as possible after it has been extracted the personal representa– tives will not be communicated with unless the solicitor has first been notified of the omission to publish the Notice. A note to that effect and fully explanatory has been published in the GAZETTE. Solicitors are asked to facilitate the Commissioners by publishing the Statutory Notice as soon as possible unless publication has been waived by the Commissioners and in any event to lodge the Probate or Letters of Administration for noting without delay. In any case in which for one reason or another it is not possible to obtain the Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration within the statutory period of four months the solicitor should write to the Commissioners informing them that he is acting and that in due course the Grant will be obtained and lodged for noting, and that in any event the notices will be published or application made for exemption from publication as soon as possible. The subject of Law Reform is of very great importance. It is also a topic on which very much could be said, and I do not propose to dwell on it here as it has been commented on by more than one of my predecessors in office at Half-yearly General Meetings. Pending the setting up of a Law Reform Committee no progress can be made in remedying the existing defects.