The Gazette 1967/71

ning control where it does not materially alter the appearance of the house. The construction of a new extension at the rear of a house is also free from control, provided that the original floor area of the house is not exceeded by more than 120 square feet or, in the case of a two-storey exten sion, 90 square feet on each floor and that the height of the house is not exceeded. Apart from these exemptions, the reconstruction or extension of a house or any alterations which materially affects its external appearance is likely to be sub ject to planning control and permission must be obtained before work is put in hand. Reprinted with permission from "A House of Your Own" published by the Stationery Office. LEGAL NEWS OF THE MONTH LEGAL, SYSTEM FOB REVIEW Hire Purchase is First on List Mr. Justice Kenny is head of a research group on the operation of the legal system in Ireland. Initially, this legal research body which has been set up in association with the Economic and Social Research Institute, will look into the work ings of the hire purchase system and some aspects of court procedure. The work will be carried out by graduate students working with the advice and help of the group, and the findings will be published by the Institute. Other members of the group are Professor Michael Fogarty of the Institute; Prof. Kaim Caudle; Brendan McGrath, president of the Incorporated Law Society; Senator Prof. Mary Bourke; R. M. Neville; Max Abrahamson and John Temple Lang. The group intends to arrange for graduates working in the Institute to do research into the actual operation of certain aspects of the legal system, as distinct from the way the system is supposed to work. One idea behind the formation of the group is the belief that law reform in this country must spring into the existing system and Irish needs.

The apparent acceptance by Irish lawyers gen erally that all is well with the legal system has been supported for the past 50 years by a disdain for finding out the actual facts, and the purpose of the group is to establish facts (especially statis tical data) which will assist the government and others concerned with reform of legal procedures. Financial support is sought by the group from commercial, industrial, professional and com munal bodies and firms which are likely to gain particularly by improvements in legal procedures, apart from sharing the general gains to the com munity from the better administration of justice. The initial projects are one study of hire pur chase of fairly well-defined and limited scope and one broad project on civil procedure which will be broken down into a number of particular investigations. Dealing with hire purchase, the group says that proceedings under this heading constitute one of the most numerous of civil proceedings in the Irish courts. Hire purchase transactions amount to the order of £65 million at any one time and represent a high proportion (45 per cent, at December 1969) of total consumers' credit. The research carried out by the group will investigate all the facets of hire purchase. The proposed investigation into general court procedure will deal with: levels and trends in work loads of the various courts; the proportion of the time of the judges and the court officials taken up with the various classes of business, enabling an estimate to be made of the cost of providing a court remedy for particular kinds of dispute. Other aspects of this investigation will include the period of time between a cause of action arising and the issue of proceedings; the period of time between the issue of proceedings and the hearing; the time spent at hearing; and how these times are spent. It is hoped to publish a preliminary report within 12 months from commencement of the investigation. The group says that from these subsequent in vestigations it may examine the procedure leading up to trial and the proportion of the time at hear ing taken up with oral evidence on formal or other matters which might be dealt with by pre-trial 167