The Gazette 1967/71

CASES OF THE MONTH

which is let but who has to borrow money in order to improve or repair the property. The interest payable in respect of the loan will now be relieved from tax which could not be adequately done under the old law. Part II of the Bill deals with stamp duties and section II limits the duties on agreements for hire of goods, wares, merchan dise, machinery and plant to the fixed duties of 6d and 10/- which apply to hire-purchase and credit-sale agreements. The section also relieves from the charge of duty guarantees for payments under agreements for hire. Part IV of the Bill deals with profits or gains from dealings in or developing land. Section 19 in particular is an anti-avoidance measure which deals with the position which arises when a company erects a building which if sold by it would produce a taxable profit. If, however, the shares of the company were sold to the purchaser in the absence of specific legislation the vendors of the shares would receive their money in a non- taxable form. This Section renders such a tran saction void for the purposes of saving tax. Section 20 deals with the same position where a holding company is introduced and the same result goes in Section 20 as under Section 19. Section 21 con tains a number of supplementary provisions de signed to ensure the effectiveness of Sections 19 and 20. SOLICITORS' ACCOUNTS REGULATIONS 1967 Definition of Accountant Under paragraph 2 of the regulations "accoun tant" means :— (a) a person approved by the Council who is a member of either the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland or the Association of Certified and Corporate Accountants : (b) any other person who is considered by the Council to have adequate qualifications or experience in the auditing of accounts, and where the context so admits or requires in cludes a firm of accountants. Following representations received from the Irish Society of Certified Public Accountants the Council propose to amend paragraph 2 of the regulations in due course so that the I.S.C.P.A. will be named specifically in the regulations, in the same manner as the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Association of Certified and Corporate Accountants. In the meantime the Council will accord them similar recognition in considering applications from individual accoun tants for approval under the regulation.

Solicitors' Accounts In 1967 the Law Society served on a solicitor notices under r. 11 of the Solicitors' Accounts Rules, 1945 ("The Accounts Rules") requiring him to produce at his office his books of account, bank pass books, statements of account, vouchers and other necessary documents in relation to his practice at that office address and in relation to every trust of which he was sole trustee or a co- trustee only with a partner, clerk or servant of his, for the inspection of the Society's investigation accountant. The solicitor brought an action against the Society and its Secretary-General and others claiming an injunction to restrain them from acting on the notices and claiming that the plaintiff solicitor was entitled 1.o particulars of any complaint or representation made to any of the defendants as to his conduct as a solicitor. The plaintiff solicitor relied on s. 46(6) of the Solici tors Act, 1957, whereby no person was to be compelled in proceedings before the disciplinary committee to produce any document which he could not be compelled to produce at the trial of an action, and the palintiff solicitor contended that the investigation accountant was not entitled on investigation under s.29 of the Act of 1957 to inspect privileged documents with the consequence of r. 11 of the Accounts Rules were ultra vires lo the extent that they purported to provide to the contrary. Held : the plaintiff solicitor's writ disclosed no cause of action and accordingly the writ would be struck out, for the following reasons :— (i) because rr. 11 of the accounts rules were not ultra vires as the Law Society was bound by s.29 (1) (c) and 2(c) of the Solicitors Act, 1957, to make such rules as would enable the Society to discover whether the accounts rules were being observed, and the two rr. 11 did not more than that; accordingly clients' legal professional privi lege was not a valid ground of objecting to dis closure of documents properly within the scope of the investigation accountant's inquiry, (ii) because the Law Society was not under any obligation at the stage of investigation under s.29 to give information to the plaintiff solicitor as to the Society's reasons for making an investigation in accordance with the relevant accounts rules. (Parry-Jones v. The Law Society and Others

(1967) 3 All E.R. p.248). New Peril for Solicitors

The solicitor who had acted for the plaintiff Mrs. Cook, had been negligent in not taking steps to prevent the divorce suit brought, by .her husband 54