The Gazette 1971

EUROPEAN COMMUNITY SECTION

Legal Education for the European Community

Graham Goldinig Dip.Jur.Eur. (U.C.D.), M.A., LL.B. (T.C.D.), Solicitor

whose origin is to be found in the Scandinavian coun- tries. In this country, the matter is still in early stages of debate. The Association of Civil Liberties is strongly in favour of an Ombudsman (or a rose by some other name). However, Mr. Colum Gavan Duffy, M.A., LL.B., under the auspices of the Council of Europe and nominated by the Law Reform Advisory Committee, is in course of preparing a report on the possible establish- ment of an administrative tribunal in Ireland for that Committee (chaired by Ó Caoimh, P.). En passant, it is interesting to note that as long ago as 1935, George Gavan Duffy, S.C. (as he then was) wrote an article entitled, "Administrative Law: The Urgent Need of Systematisation and Publicity," (See The Irish Jurist, (1935) Vol. I. p.34). Grounding in Comparative Law Without the foundation of a thorough grounding in comparative law, at the least, how can the law student of the present—the practitioner of the future—hope to be sufficiently well informed so as to be able to cope with the foreign law which is becoming an integral part of our legal system? The matter does not begin and end with a study of comparative law. If indeed we do enter the EEC, we shall of course be subject to the law of the Common Market—an entirely new genus of law, sui generis, and based upon the Treaty of Rome. Part 2, Title III, Chapter 3, Article 60 (d), of that Treaty provides for the free movement of services within the Community—in the words of the Treaty, of the "activities of the liberal professions". To quote Mr. Brendan McGrath again, "Among the main topics of interest to the pro- fession here are the proposed removal of re- strictions on the right of establishment and the right to supply professional services . .. recog- nition of professional diplomas . .. The right of professional men to cross frontiers for the pro- vision of legal services naturally raises prob- lems which are more apparent between the civil law and common law countries than be- tween the European States which operate under basically similar legal systems. The ques- tion of the right of audience in foreign courts and the right of U.K. and European lawyers in the Republic is also engaging attention." (Emphasis supplied) —Gazette, Vol. 65, No. 2. at p.34

"Legal education and provision of legal ser- vices is a matter of public interest and concern. The Government and both branches of the solicitors!' profession have a vital interest in this field." [Mr. Brendan A. McGrath, Pre- sident, addressing a general meeting of the Incorporated Law Society on 8th May, 1971 (reported in the Gazette , Vol. 65, No. 2, at p.32)] At the time of writing (July, 1971) it is impossible to predict with any degree of accuracy whether or not Ireland will become a full member of the European Community. Some cry, "Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!" —but others, more optimistic, chortle, "Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O fabulous day! Callooh! Callay!" (Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass) We are in the midst of a spate of elated and feverish activity, with comings and goings from Luxembourg and Brussels by Cabinet Ministers, representatives of both Houses of the Oireachtas and numerous other individuals in various capacities—not to overlook the faceless ones of our diligent Civil Service. Even if we are not to become a member state of the EEC, our law (and that of the U.K.) is beginning to widen its horizons and wake up to the fact that the solution to all politico-legal problems is not necessarily reposed within the framework of the Common Law. Many lessons can be learned from a study of compara- tive law. That this is true was personified in the late Gavan Duffy, P., who was not only a master of the common law (and of ancient Irish law) but was also well versed in American, Franch and Italian law and had no hesitation, sometimes openly, sometimes in a concealed manner, of drawing, in his judgments, upon the illumination which a knowledge of what he termed "transmarine" institutions cast upon our own system. Alas! in this era of specialisation (with some notable exceptions) we no longer have such personalities in our branch of the profession, at the Bar or on the Bench. One example of the manner in which legal institu- tions with a foreign origin are creeping into our law will suffice : the Ombudsman. Britain, with almost cata- strophic consequences, has introduced a "Parliamentary Commissioner"—a poor reflection of the Ombudsman,

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