The Gazette 1972

Commissioners for Oaths A three-year qualification to be appointed as Commis- sioner for Oaths is no longer necessary. For many years the Courts have operated a rule of practice appointing solicitors as commissioners for oaths by which the appli- cants were required to have not less than three years in practice as a condition of eligibility. The Chief Justice has now reviewed this practice and has decided that it no longer serves any useful purpose. He has accordingly indicated that he will in future not require a solicitor- applicant to be a practising solicitor of not less than three years standing and has requested that this infor- mation be brought to the notice of the profession. Should a Solicitor give an undertaking without an Irrevocable Retainer by the Client?

The Council have been considering the difficulty in which a solicitor can find himself when he has given an undertaking on behalf of a client and the client subse- quently withdraws his retainer and instructs some other solicitor. Depending upon the terms of the undertaking given a solicitor could in certain circumstances find himself in a position of grave embarrassment. For ex- ample if a client instructed a solicitor to give an under- taking to a bank to pay over in discharge of an over- draft monies coming to his hands belonging to the client and if the client subsequently terminated the retainer and called upon the solicitor to account to him for all further monies coming into his hands or already held and not paid over in accordance with the undertaking the solicitor might find himself liable to proceedings by the former client for the recovery of his money on the one hand and proceedings by the bank on foot of his undertaking on the other. The Council have approved of the following form of authority and undertaking which a solicitor could use on being instructed and prior to giving any under- taking on behalf of the client. The solicitor should write to the client as follows : Dear Mr. A. (client), In order to complete this matter I shall have to give New Court Rules District Court The District Court Rules Committee has made new rules providing for an increase of 25 per cent in the costs of the former jurisdiction and also providing a new scale of costs for the extended jurisdiction. Subject to concurrence by the Minister the new rules will'come into operation in September 1972. These rules will be published in full in the November Gazette. Circuit Court New rules providing a scale of six day costs are already in operation. The general scales of costs for soli- citors were agreed and were submitted by the rules com- mittee to the Minister for Justice who signified his con- currence and returned the rules to the committee. Agreement as to the rules concerning the rules and scales of counsels' fees was not reached. The Minister indicated that he was prepared to sign rules dealing with solicitors' costs. At the last meeting of the rules committee the rules relating to solicitors' costs were

an undertaking to the bank which will bind me profes- sionally to (set out the terms of the undertaking). I must have your authority and retainer both of which shall be irrevocable in order to give this under- taking and if you will write that you agree I shall proceed with the matter immediately. Yours faithfully, (Solicitor). An unconditional affirmative reply in writing from the client will constitute the necessary authority. The solicitor would then be in a position, if the client pur- ported to terminate the retainer, to act according to the undertaking given to him. The letter in reply from the client should be stamped with the appropriate revenue duty. This is £0.50 in the case of a document under seal. The duty of £0.2^ on agreements under hand only has been abolished. Members are advised to refer again to an important statement regarding undertakings at page 185 of the June Gazette. This deals with other important matters precedent to the giving of an undertaking, e.g. the existence of an enforceable contract and what happens if either party is unable or unwilling to complete and the provisions which should be included in its under- taking to provide for such contingencies. considered. The rules as received from the Department were not signed and the matter was deferred to a meet- ing to be held in October. High Court Agreement was reached between the Society and the rules committee and the Department of Justice for an increase of 20 per cent of the present scales. Rules were made by the committee and submitted to the Minister for signature. They have not been signed pending dis- cussion between the Minister and the Society on certain matters. A meeting to deal with these outstanding mat- ters will be held in the near future. Land Registry The Council were informed that rules giving effect to an increase of 30 per cent on the costs of voluntary transfers, applications under Rules 33-35 and costs under Rules 121 (6) have been made and will take effect from 2nd October 1972. - 2 3 3