The Gazette 1961 - 64

work behind the scenes to organise the occasion and have very kindly invited us to a cocktail party to be held before our dinner-dance tonight. On your behalf I thank them for their generosity. I am sure that you will all join with me in sending every good wish to the president of the Donegal Solicitors' Association, Mr. J. Allan Osborne, whose advanced years prevented him from attending here today. Mr. Osborne commenced practice in 1894 and is the father of our profession. He attained the age of 91 last week and he is still in active practice, a record that can hardly be surpassed in legal longevity. I think the choice of Donegal for our meeting was a good one as you have here scenery unsurpassed in mountain, lake and seascape and although we are now in what was originally the Fort of the Foreigner we shall leave after this weekend with the new knowledge and awareness of one of the most beautiful counties in Ireland and its kindly and hospitable people. Your county has contributed richly to the history and culture of our land being once the kingdom of the O'Donnells, famous princes of the past, and the home of the Four Masters who compiled here their famous Annals over four centuries ago. RULE OF LAW I am very proud to have the privilege of addressing you here today as a president of your Society and am even more proud to greet you all as fellow lawyers. The solicitors' profession fills a very vital role in all civilized communities and is most necessary for the preservation of the right of the individual especially when such an individual comes in conflict with a Department of State or a powerful body such as a local authority or large corporation. In this modern world with its complex society planning at various levels is becoming more and more prevalent and the rights of the individual are more than ever in need of protection. It is not for one moment suggested that any of our legislators at Government or local authority level would knowingly seek to impose undue or unnecessary hardship on any individual person or class of person but should such a case arise the one protection to the individual is the capable lawyer fearless to act and speak in his client's interest. You have seen in other countries what has happened to the individual and indeed to large classes of individuals when totalitarian influences gain the upperhand and the rule of law is abrogated or conveniently forgotten. This could not have happened had those countries a strong and virile legal pro fession conscious of their duties and privileges to defend the right and trained to protect the inherent rights and interests of the most humble citizen. Lawyers in Ireland are heirs to a proud tradition of indepen dence and willingness to serve the public whatever the consequence. We of this present generation carry a tremendous responsibility to do all in our power to promote the rule of law, not only in our country but amongst the nations of the world. INTERNATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION Your Council continues to keep in close contact with the International Bar Association which we joined in 1956 under the leadership of our then president, Mr. Dermot Shaw. Meetings of the International Bar Association arc held every second year and have been attended by a delegation from your Council headed by the president for the time being. The last meeting was held in Edinburgh in 1962 when your Council was represented under the leadership of Mr. George Overcnd. The next meeting of the International Bar Association is scheduled for Mexico City towards the end of July, 1964, and I have noted from correspondence that I have received in the matter that Mr. John Carrigan, Senator John Nash,

Mr. Dermot Shaw and Mr. Ralph Walker represent our country on the several committees of the conference. Although a year has yet to pass before the conference will be held and the distance is considerable the Law Society of England have been in correspondence with our Society with a view to ascertaining ifa chartered flight by air can be arranged for delegates attending from Europe. If they are successful in their efforts the cost of the journey would be very substantially reduced. I mention this matter now as I should like to stress that attendance at conferences of the International Bar Association is open to all members of affiliated societies and accordingly any member of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland who wishes to attend such a conference is perfectly free so to do. The conference in Mexico affords an opportunity of seeing new lands and new people and to meet practitioners of different systems of law. LAW REFORM The reform and codification of our laws has always been an object of concern for your Council and we are very happy to see that this necessary and desirable object is now being pressed. I should like to place on record our appreciation of the steps now being taken in that regard by our present Minister for Justice and to assure him and his Department that the Society is wholeheartedly behind him in his efforts and are ready to place at his disposal the diverse experience of our members in country and city. My distinguished predecessor, Mr. George G. Overend, during his year ofoffice, instituted the practice whereby members of the Council, usually two in number, prepared and submitted to the Council a memorandum on the particular branch of the law requiring codification or reform. Many such memoranda were prepared and in due course were sent to the Department of Justice. I am happy to say that many of our recommendations were accepted and have been or will be reflected in legislation. I think the thanks of the Society are due to those members of the Council who devoted their time and ability in painstaking research and I am happy to note that their work was given public recognition in Dail Eireann by the Minister on the debate on what is now the Hotel Proprietors Act, 1963. Your Council is only too well aware of the difficulties of our practitioners owing to the lack of modern textbooks dealing with our changing laws and in an attempt to ameliorate the position have procured the publication of booklets dealing with the Civil Liability Act, 1961, Stamp Duty Legislation, the Administration of Estates Act, 1959, the Statute of Limitations Act, 1957 and the Married Woman's Status Act, 1957. These booklets are not and were never intended to be exhaustive treatises on the branch of the law with which they deal but do afford to the practitioner a concise and clear statement of the changes effected by modern legislation. A further booklet on contracts and the investigation of title on sale of property is in course of preparation and it is also hoped that the Council will be able to publish a booklet on Probate practice. It is gratifying that work of this sort is not confined to the Council and to note that under the auspices of the Provincial Solicitors' Association a booklet will shortly be published dealing with estate duty. When my predecessor, Mr. Overend, addressed you in General Meeting last November, he expressed the hope that the Society would arrange a series of annual lectures for qualified solicitors to be given on matters which had been the subject of legislative change during the preceding year. Your Council is now engaged in arranging a number of lectures of this nature and with a view to facilitating prac titioners who would find it inconvenient to travel to Dublin