The Gazette 1982

INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND GAZETTE Vol. 76 No. 7

September 1982

Comment...

In this issue. ..

. . . High Court on Circuit — A Permanent feature?

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Comment

Employee Information and Consultation Procedures --The Community Proposal

T HE recent experiment of having High Court Jury Sit- tings in Trim and Naas, in an effort to reduce the backlog of cases awaiting hearing in the Dublin Jury List, has, by all accounts been successful as far as it went. It seems that sufficient numbers of the Common Law Bar were willing and able to attend, and medical and other specialist witnesses were also able to attend without undue difficulty. In recent years the Cork Jury Sessions have to an extent overlapped with the Dublin Jury Sittings and that has not resulted in a void ofcompetent SeniorCounsel or specialist witnesses at either venue. Is it not, therefore, time to consider seriously the estab- lishment of a High Court on Circuit which would continu- ously sit not only in the various traditional locations outside Dublin—Cork, Galway, Limerick, Tipperary,Waterford, Kilkenny, Sligo, Dundalkbut in any others where adequate court facilities are available — to deal in time, not onlywith clearing the current arrears of pending Jury Actions, but also with non-Jury Actions? It is obvious that more regular High Court Sessions at those locations would diminish the arrears very quickly and, more importantly, in the longer term, it wouldbring the administration ofjustice in the High Court nearer to the people concerned, that being the princi- pal objective of the recent big increases in the jurisdictions of the Circuit and District Courts. Granted, the existence of a High Court continuously on Circuit would giverise to some inconvenience and disloca- tion for the members oftheHighCourt, all ofwhomreside in Dublin, but an equitable rotation ofthe taskwouldmitigate that, as would also the appointment of a greater number of High Court Judges. It would require that Common Law Barristers, particularly Senior Counsel, would have to rationalise their practices, none having been as yet bestow- ed with the divine gift of bilocation! However, even now such rationalisation is taking place m that some Common Law Senior Counsel have let it be known that they are con- fining themselves to attending particular High Court Sit- tings at venues outside Dublin. If the times of the more regular Sittings in the various Circuit venues were firmly established and the actual listing of cases for hearing on each Sitting Day made more certain by an early call-over procedure (such as is now working successfully in the (Continued on P. 157) 147

149

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Legal Data Base now on Test

Computerisation of Companies Registration Office

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1 55

"Make a Will" Week

i «7 1 J/

Association of Criminal Lawyers

157 i <7 l JI

Medico Legal Society

Society of Young Solicitors

1 48

"Make aWill" Week

1 59

The Solicitor as Advocate High Court at Trim

1 64

1 64

Solicitors' Golfing Society

Correspondence

165

Professional Information

166

Executive Editor: Mary Buckley Editorial Board: Charles R. M. Meredith, Chairman John F. Buckley Gary Byrne William Earley Michael V. O'Mahony Maxwell Sweeney Advertising: Liam Ó hOisin, Telephone 305236 The views expressed in this publication, save where other-wise indicated, are the views of the contributors and not necessarily the views of the Council of the Society. Published at Blackhall Place, Dublin 7.