The Gazette 1983

GAZETTE

JULY/AUGUST

198

Correspondence

On a Decree for £150: District Court — £16. Circuit Court — £10.80. On a Decree for £600: District Court £29.50. Circuit Court — £15.00. On a Decree for £1,500: District Court — £56.50. Circuit Court — £22.25. The discrepancy grows, the higher the amount involved, and one might expect that, if this were fully appreciated, it would be a substantial inducement to move in the District Court in appropriate cases. Likewise, most types of family law proceedings, which regularly involve repeated applications to Court, would seem, at least in provincial areas, to be more suited to the District Court, for the reason that it sits more frequently and at a far greater variety of venues than the Circuit, and is therefore more accessible to solicitors and their clients alike. It has been suggested that metropolitan-based solicitors engaged in substantial debt collecting work, being unfamiliar with provincial arrangements, find difficulty in ascertaining the appropriate District Court Area in which to proceed. In the writer's view, this can only be due to inertia, because these Areas are well established and on record, not only in District Court Rules but also in the current Law Directory; if, despite this, doubt still remains, this could be speedily resolved by an enquiry to whoever appears to be the nearest District Court Clerk. That would be preferable to taking the easy way out, by issuing pro- ceeings in the Circuit Court, thereby clogging up its resources. Now that normal working has been resumed in the District Court Offices, it is hoped that solicitors will revert to the former practice of bringing their proceedings in the most appropriate forum, having regard to the limits of jurisdiction, unless there are very pressing reasons for doing otherwise. This would be in the interests of the pro- fession as well as of the Circuit Court Offices, because the reduction in the work-load there will tend to minimise delays, especially in the area of default judgments. My colleagues and I look forward to the co-operation of the profession in this regard. Yours etc., T. G. Crotty, Chairman, County Registrars' Association, Circuit Court Office, Kilkenny. The editors are to be congratulated on producing a fully critical and annotated text of this difficult work. For the first time all of Bentham's modifications of the original text of 1780 are incorporated and identified and his references are elucidated. Professor Hart has added an introduction specially designed for students while an index of subjects and an index of names act as signposts for the traveller on his difficult journey through the text.This is a university paperback presented on the finest of paper and with the clearest of print. Gerard A. Lee 141 BOOK REVIEW (continued from p. 135)

The Editor,

27 May 1983

The Law Society Gazette, Blackhall Place, Dublin 7.

Dear Sir, Overheard at Dunmanway District Court on the 25th inst., whilst the Defence Solicitor was cross-examining a witness — " I must put it to you that the van had not sufficient power left to mount the grass virgin". I have heard of a grass widow or widower but a grass virgin?

Yours faithfully, Grattan Neville, Solicitor,

Clonakilty, Co. Cork.

The Editor,

20 May 1983

The Law Society Gazette, Blackhall Place, Dublin 7.

Sir, Through the medium of your columns, I would like to address an appeal to members of the profession to have regard to the limits of jurisdiction set by the Courts Act, 1981, when they are about to issue civil proceedings, especially those for liquidated demands, which are likely to terminate in judgment by default. During the protracted dispute between the District Court Clerks and the Department of Justice, now happily ended, solicitors were of necessity obliged to enter cases in the Circuit Court which were in fact within the District Court jurisdiction, as enlarged by the 1981 Act. The effect was to overtax the resources of many Circuit Court Offices and hence to cause delays in the processing of litigation. Furthermore, efforts to cope with the pressure of court work frequently had a chain-reaction, lending to delays in the other types of legal business which are properly the function of the provincial Circuit Court Offices, e.g. Land Registry, Sheriff and in some cases Probate. It is, of course, accepted that, subject to the risk of being penalised in costs, a litigant is entitled to proceed in whichever Court he chooses, provided it has jurisdiction. A County Registrar cannot refuse to accept a Civil Bill for entry simply because the amount claimed is within the District Court jurisdiction. However, civil claims for sums less than £2,500 can now be dealt with at least as simply and expeditiously in the District as in the Circuit Court. Indeed, it can also be more profitable to a solicitor to proceed in the lower court because of the anomaly that the Circuit Court is still con- strained to apply the 1972 scales of costs, whereas the District Court has new scales introduced in 1982. Just taking default, i.e. debt-collecting, cases as an example, the solicitor's professional fee works out as follows:—