The Gazette 1978

GAZETTE •

- APRIL 1978

including quotations of fees for a first consultation of 15 dollars. Obviously it will be some time before the practice settles down, and it may necessarily vary from State to State since the ruling bodies are Stale and not Federal, even though the rules are inspired by the American Bar Association. U.K. No action on lifting restrictions on individual advertising has yet been announced by the Law Socicty of England and Wales, though it is understood that the Society is under strong pressure to comply with the terms of the Monopolies Commission Report. The Law Society of Scotland's journal recently commented that "the winds of change may be beginning to move the leaves even here in Scotland". Before the Monopolies Commission the Law Society had argued the case for collective advertising by the profession rather than individual advertising, and it is not surprising to find that the Society recently mounted a major collective advertising campaign in the media featuring "Mr. What 'is Name". Views on any advertising campaign are necessarily subjective until the effect of the campaign can be scientifically measured but it must be said that the campaign appeared somewhat old fashioned in its approach possibly because of a limited

budget being spread too thinly and the newspaper advertisements were in danger of being mistaken for yet another strip cartoon (or perhaps it was so designed to attract the legion of strip cartoon fans). It is understood that the Scottish Law Society which previously mounted a similar campaign did not consider it to be very successful. From the point of view of the profession in England and Wales it was significant that the Monopolies Commission, accepting that there was a need for restraints on the nature of advertising, did not consider it necessary to recommend independent representation on the bodies concerned with the formulation and enforcement of an advertising code but were prepared to leave this to the existing Law Socicty bodies, thus leaving the profession a reasonable opportunity of maintaining its own discipline. In contrast to the recent developments in the United States and United Kingdom the profession in most continental European states have very strict restrictions on advertising, in many cases even more strict than the U.K. or Irish restrictions. Whether it will prove possible to rely on the widespread nature of these restrictions as an argument for their retention in Ireland must be doubtful. It may well be that as in so many other fields, where the U.S. leads today the rest of the Western World will follow tomorrow.

Judicature (Northern Ireland) Bill, 1977

and the Law Commission on remedies in administrative Law (Cmnd. 6407). These clauses enable a person to make a single application for any one or more of the prerogative orders and, in appropriate circumstances, for a declaration or an injunction, T7ic High Court will have power, on such an application being made, to award the applicant any damages which he could have claimed in an action begun by writ. The Court will also be able to make a binding declaration of right whether or not any conse- quential relief is or could be claimed and notwithstanding that the events on which the right depends have not occurrcd. Part VIII restates in modern form provisions of the Judicature Act (Ireland). 1877, which ensured the concurrent administration of law and equity. Clause 86, hardly surprisingly, restates the rule that where there is a conflict of law and equity the rules of equity shall prevail. The financial and manpower consequences of this 120- clausc measure are quite good. The new arrangements are intended to effect savings by the use of more efficient methods of disposing of business, the reduction of delays, and the more cffcctivc deployment of staff. No new appointments will have to be made when this Bill is cnactcd.

% This Bill which was, in the House of Lctfds, ordered to be printed on the 6th December 1977, gives effect to the proposals described in the Government White Paper "Courts in Northern Ireland: The Future Pattern" (Cmnd. 6892). It will effect a major modernisation of Courts and their administration in Northern Ireland, including abolition of the Court of Criminal Appeal and the transfer of its jurisdiction to the Court of Appeal, the establishment of a Crown Court for the trial of all criminal cases on indictment, the creation of a si.igle unified Courts administration to rcplace the separate Courts services which at present exist, and a territorial redistribution of Courts and offices to take account of changes in local government boundaries. In certain respects, the Bill represents the first legis- lative step in the assimilation of the Northern Ireland Courts structure with that in Britain. Firstly, a Crown Court is established as part of the Supreme Court and, sccondjy, a Family Division of the High Court is created n for the first time. New rules are set out in relation to applications for declaratory judgments or prerogative orders. Clauses 18- 25 give effect, with modifications, to the recommen- dations of the MacDermott Committee (Cmnd. 4292)

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