The Gazette 1972

Directors and their Accountants are entitled to make Copies of Books of Account of the Relevant Company. Plaintiff and second defendant are directors of the company, the first defendant. The plaintiff complained that he had been excluded from the management of the Company, and sought an inspection of the register of members, the minute book, and the books of account, and wished to have an accountant with him when he was checking this. The defendants refused to allow anyone except the plaintiff to see the books of account although they would allow an accountant to see the register of members and the minute book. Kenny, J., held that under section 147 of the Companies Act 1963 quoted, the right of a director to inspect the books of a company, when he has an obligation placed on him, the breach of which may involve him in criminal liability, necessarily implies that he has the right to employ a qualified agent to advise him. The question whether proper books are being kept is essen- tially one on which an accountant is the only person qualified to advise upon. The director and his accoun- tant are also entitled to make copies of the books of account or any part of them. [Daniel Healy v. Healy Homes Ltd. and Kilcoyne; Kenny, J.; unreported; 19th June 1972.] guese Government was turned down by the Belgians and legal observers believe there is a significance in the fact that while Portugal is outside the E.E.G., both Italy and Belgium áre members of the community. Left-wing co-operation It is known that police authorities in Italy, France and Germany have long been seriously concerned at the growth in international co-operation among left-wing groups in their respective areas and while the conven- tion of refusing extradition for political offences has been honoured, a noticeable increase in co-operation on political matters has come about between Italian, French and German police. With the Belgians now adopting a strong line however, it might well be asked whether the entire E.E.G. area is moving towards a very much closer system of police co-operation espec- ially in regard to the handling of left-wing activists. The justification for introducing some measure of uniformity among European police forces rolls easily off the tongues of Justice officials; free flow of money and goods provides more opportunities for the criminal; reduction of frontier formalities and work restrictions makes the policeman's job of tracking people and goods more difficult. And up to a point this approach is valid. The problem, however, is to know just how far such standardisation should be allowed to go and whether it should also be extended to include the courts and the judicial system. There are signs already that the British may be con- templating some moves towards European standards in these matters—influenced no doubt by the growth of political violence in Northern Ireland and in England itself. The British would be the last to admit that they Continued on page 275 - 2 7 3

would interfere with the plaintiff's residence. The de- fendants replied that the building would not interfere with the plaintiff's right to light. The nearest point of defendant's premises is 43 feet from plaintiff's new ground floor windows. The defendants appealed on the ground that Teevan, J. should not have awarded damages in respect of obstruction of light to new windows which were not ancient lights; they also contended that the plaintiff was not entitled to damages for loss of amenity as well as damages based in the diminution of the value of her property. The obstruction of genuine ancient lights in plaintiff's premises is not disputed. The plain- tiff contended that Griffith v. Clay (1912) 2Ch. 291— decided that general damages may include compensa- tion for obstruction to light of modern windows in the same way as if they were ancient lights—but this was rejected by Fitzgerald, J. However it was held that a judge is entitled to take into account as much loss of amenity in the future use of the premises, as the future selling value of the property. The sum of £1,700 bears no reasonable relation to the injury suffered by the plaintiff in respect of these matters. Consequently the Supreme Court (Fitzgerald and McLoughlin, J., per Fitzgerald, J., Walsh, J., dissent- ing) allowed the appeal. [Scott v. Goulding Fertilisrs Ltd.; 29th February 1972; Supreme Court; unreported.] Recent court decisions seem to indicate that, at least within the E.E.G. the tradition is changing of countries refusing to extradite those wanted for political offences. These are good days for Europe's policemen. From Holland to Sicily and from Glasgow to Kerry, the men involved in law enforcement are doing nicely from their governments' fears of organised political violence. Very quietly and with scant notice from the international press, European governments in recent months have begun a significant tightening of their lines of inter- national policing and individual states have made sub- stantial improvements in the pay, conditions and staffing of their police forces. At the level of international relations there has been a noticeable hardening in recent months among Euro- pean justice systems. The most significant manifestation of this was a decision in August by the Belgian courts to grant the Italian Government's request for the extra- dition of three members of a Leftist group wanted for offences in Italy with clear political overtones. The three men were members of the October 22nd, Move- ment, one of Italy's largest left-wing groups and their offences as stated to the Belgian court were kidnapp- ing and armed robbery. What the Belgian court was not told—and apparently did not want to know anyway—was that the three faced numerous other charges in Italy of a more overt politi- cal nature. As it was, the two offences with which the Belgians were charged were politically connected in themselves. The Belgian decision, unprecedented in that country's, judicial history, was in violation of the long-standing convention among European Governments that extra- dition is not granted in political offences. Significantly too, a similar application two years ago by the Portu- Supra-National Justice? by CONOR BRADY