The Gazette 1974

found out that Ancient Irish Law was based upon generally acceptable and authorised commentaries. His II Reports were written in Norman French in 1615, but the English edition was only published in Dublin in 1767. Finlay's "Digested Index to all Irish Reported Cases in Law and Equity" followed in 1818. Ridgway collaborated with Schoales in the only volume of "Irish Term Reports" from 1793 to 1795. In Ireland, a Council based on the English model began supervising law reporting in 1867. These had been preceded by the series known as "Irish Law Reports" (1838-49) and "Irish Equity Reports" (1838-49) to be followed by the series of "Irish Common Law Reports" (1849-66), and "Irish Chancery Reports" (1849-66)—a total of 60 volumes. Judgments under the Irish Criminal Law- Procedure Act" were only published in 1903. After 1867, the Council of Law Reporting appointed editors and reporters. The 32 volumes of "Law Reports (Ireland)" (1878-93) were published indirectly by Ponsonby on behalf of Council but from 1894 the Council took full responsibility with the modern series of "Irish Reports". The Council of Law Reporting for Northern Ireland started publishing the "Northern Ireland Law Reports" from 1925. The time has, therefore, come to consider proposals for the general improvement of Irish law reporting. An English expert has recently stated that the standard of headnotes in the Irish Reports was particularly high. Fortunately the Irish reporter wastes little time on counsel's argument. The main problem is which Irish cases should be reported and which not. Inevitably some cases which at the time were unimportant may become important later. [Editorial Note : The lecturer suggests that four vol- umes of unreported cases would be sufficient, but it would seem that, if it were to be complete, at least ten volumes would be required.] Another difficulty is the length of time that arises between the date of the judgment and its publication, which is often due to delay in revision on the Judge's part. As Ireland has had written Constitutions since 1922, many cases dealing with the interpretation of written Constitutions have great persuasive effect outside Ireland; there were some great Judges like Chief Baron Palles. Unfortu- nately the modern Irish Law Reports lack a compre- hensive index : they contain much law and much truth but it is drowned in a sea of words. The new Index should be based on the pattern of the English Red Index, and it should be brought up to date from time to time; all cases in it should be indexed on an all- Ireland basis. Apart from indexing, it would be essential to have some form of immediate reporting, such as is now available in the London Times. The English Law Reporting Committee in 1940 reported that the majority of cases were dictated, but not read by Judges. Prof. Goodhart suggested that official shorthand writers should be attached to all Courts to transcribe all judg- ments, which would be revised by Judges within a week. The judgments could then be returned to a central office of the Law Courts and should be available at a reasonable fee. The most practical step would be to provide a service by which cases are reported with sufficient authority to permit them to be accepted by Judges. Obviously such a scheme would require side support from the legal profession, as the newspaper would have to go to the expense of appointing a full- time editor and many reporters from the Bar. Apart from that, Irish and English practitioners have always 217

tice, the Judge must warn the jury that it is dangerous to convict an accused on the uncorroborated evidence of accomplices, or in cases of sexual offences against women or between males, that the jury should not convict on the evidence of the alleged injured party alone. The evidence in a corroboration must be evid- ence which implicates the accused. Where a case depends on visual identification, the jury must be told that it is dangerous to act on this evidence. A jury which is unable to agree upon a verdict is discharged. The possible sentences are : death for defined capital murder; penal servitude—maximum life. If not specified in a felony before 1891, the maxi- mum is 7 years. The maximum statutory term of impris- onment is 2 years, but is unlimited in the case of Common Law offences. An appeal from the Central or Circuit Criminal Court is taken to the Court of Criminal Appeal. Unlike England, only one judgment may be given. If a Certi- ficate for Leave to Appeal is refused by the trial Judge, the appellate Court will normally grant it if a question of law is involved or if the trial was unsatisfactory. The hearing is based on the stenographer's note of the hearing. The Court of Criminal Appeal may refuse the application, or affirm the conviction, or quash the conviction either wholly or by ordering a retrial. Mr. Geoffrey Bing, Q.C., C.M.G., former Attorney- General of Ghana, delivered a lecture on Sunday after- noon, April 28, on "Law Reporting in the Irish context". He emphasised that a lawyer may well know of the existence of some case which is similar to the one with which he is engaged, but he has no means of obtaining the appropriate judgment. Writers of textbooks cannot bring them up to date if they have not access to the most recently-reported cases. The present indexing system in England was devised in 1951 by Mr. Raoul Colinvaux. The Red Index principle is now well established in England and should be extended to Ireland. From the early nineteenth century, there are excellent sets of Irish Law Reports available, but their real significance in modern condi- tions has not yet been estimated. In England, it has proved a commercial success to reprint the 178 volumes of old English Reports up to 1865. Irish Statute Law is unsatisfactory insofar as rela- tively little consolidation appears to have been done since 1922, and several annual volumes of statutes may have to be examined in order to determine the current law. One must also take into account the Irish Consti- tution of 1937, which, as the supreme law, has implicitly repealed many old statutes. Sometimes the words of a statute are unintelligible unless one knows the meaning the Courts have placed upon a particular phrase, which can be learnt from law dictionaries. Past cases, how- ever, have to be treated with respect and reserve, as subsequent statutes may have amended the decisions. The lecturer then compared the history of law report- ing in England with that in Ireland. In November 1852, under the inspiration of the Church of Ireland Bishop of Limerick, Dr. Graves, a learned commission was established, charged with superintending and carry- ing into effect the transcriptions and translation of the ancient laws of Ireland—a work which was published in two volumes by Professor Neilson and the Rev. Thadeus O'Mahony in 1869. In trying to establish the system of English Law Reporting in Ireland, Sir John Davies