The Gazette 1971

sity Degree recently admitted to the writer that he had never even glanced at Justinian's Institutes ! So much for the education for the Bar at present, and the same

We certainly do not want the practice of Common Market law in this country to be usurped by foreign lawyers; but it will be, if our own practitioners are not themselves properly equipped to provide solutions for Irish businessmen to EEC problems; businessmen and others who would otherwise unhesitantly call in British or continental experts. To quote the present Minister for Justice, in his address at the annual dinner of the Council of the Incorporated Law Society, "When we become members of the Community" (i.e. the EEC) "we will find ourselves an integral part of an entity domineered by civil law concepts, procedures and modes of thought. If this country is to play its full part in the Community, our lawyers and law teachers will have to become thoroughly familiar with the form, substance and spirit of systems of law and legal institutione other than their own. More- over, a knowledge of continental languages, especially French and German, will be of con- siderable importance." (It should be noted that, at its session of 16th to 20th November, 1970, the European Parliament re- jected a resolution concerning a proposed directive on freedom to supply services for certain activities of lawyers—See Bulletin of the European Communities, 1971, Vol. 4, p.121) Ormrod Committee Report The Report of the Committee on Legal Education in England presided over by Mr. Justice Ormrod, advocates inter alia that: (1) Academic and vocational legal training should be as far as possible integrated; (2) Legal education should be planned in three stages, (i) academic (ii) professional or vocational (iii) continuing after qualification and through- out the lawyer's professional career; (emphasis supplied). (3) The obtaining of a law degree should be the normal mode of entry. The major criticism which may be levied against our Minister's remarks, referred to above, is the pre- sumption that both the principles of the common and of the civil law systems can be mastered at under- graduate level. It is no secret that the law student of to-day is hard-pressed indeed to master even the rudi- ments of the common law and of Irish (and relevant British) legislation. Let us review the teaching of foreign law, such as it is to-day, in our Universities. (There is, so far as this writer is aware, no attempt to teach foreign law by the Honorable Society of the King's Inns or by the Law School of the Incorporated Law Society). No mention will be made of the University Colleges of Cork or Galway for the simple reason that no en- quiries as to whether foreign or comparative law is included in their Law School syllabuses have been made by the writer. At this stage perhaps one should mention that the writer has no axe to grind against either U.C.D. or T.C.D., because, being fortunate enough to be an alumnus of both, only the welfare of the profession governs the stance taken. Firstly, in order to grasp the fundamentals of the civil law without too much of a struggle, some study of Roman law is necessary. This is provided in U.C.D. for the B.C.L. Degree and T.C.D. for the B.A. (Honors Legal Science, Moderatorship) Degree and also for the Trinity LL.B. A Barrister without a Univer-

applies to our side of the profession. Knowledge of Modern Languages

Secondly, as the Minister for Justice recently com- mented, a knowledge of French or German is essential before embarking upon any worthwhile course of com- parative or foreign (i.e. European) law. In this country, as in Britain, we have had a mental block against foreign tongues. Here the aid of the secondary schools must be enlisted, and with a reasonably good school background, some time spent abroad and a determined application, the diligent student will not find the lan- guage barrier unsurmountable. Thirdly, what actually is being taught by way of comparative and foreign law as of now? At Trinity, a beginning has been made. Roman law has of course been on the curriculum from time immemorial, and the Honors Legal Science students have a thorough grounding in it. (Some years ago six full terms were devoted to Roman law, the final three being devoted to a critical analysis of Justinian, together with Sohm's Institutes—an excellent introduction to the Pandects and so to the principles of the BurgerlichesGesetzBuch. However, it is understood that due to the pressure of more modern and technical subjects even the Honors Roman law course has been reduced to three terms' study). Trinity LL.B students, like their B.C.L. counter- parts at U.C.D., receive only an introduction to Roman law—and now it appears that the same can be said of TC.D. Honors students. To continue with Trinity. Under the general head- ing of "International law", two terms (one hour per week) are devoted to the law of the Common Market; this is designed both for the Honors and LL.B. stud- ents, though of course a higher standard is expected of the Honors students. However, most of the course is designed to acquaint the student with Irish Constitu- tional problems in the event of entry into the EEC How much of the vast corpus of Common Market law per se can possibly be covered? Certainly not sufficient to attain the proficiency in that subject advocated by our President and by the Minister. Even the bare bones of the Treaty of Rome could not adequately be covered in the time allotted. It is only fair to add that, it is understood, a decision in principle has been taken by the Law School at T.C.D. to introduce a course of comparative law at a future date (but will this cover the enormous field of EEC law?). The major difficulty, presumably, will be to find a suitably qualified lecturer. It is fervently to be hoped that a minimal language qualification will also be necessary before embarking upon such a course, as study of French or German law (or what have you) could only be at the most elementary level without read- ing the Codes in their original language, case law and learned journals likewise. U.C.D. Programme At U C.D., an intense drive towards a broadening of legal studies was commenced when Senator Professor J. M. Kelly was Dean of the Faculty of Law. With his mastery of French and German (not to mention Irish), his magnum opus, "Fundamental Rights in the Irish Law and Constitution," his expertise in the intricacies of the Roman law, and last, but not least, his Doctorate from Heidelberg, he was the right man at the right time. In 1968 a one-year, part-time post-graduate 117