The Gazette 1983

INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND GAZETTE

Vol. 77 No. 10 In this issue . . .

December 1983

Comment. . . . . . The Legislation Log-Jam O NE of the more worrying aspects of our legislative process is the long delay which takes place between the initiation of legislation and its implementation. While there have been welcome examples of urgently needed corrective legislation being enacted with commendable speed, these are far from the norm. The primary fault is that of our legislators, not merely because our Parliament has so few sitting days, but also because the members seem reluctant to devote much of the limited parliamentary time which is available to the detailed consideration of legislation at the committee stage of bills. Instead they prefer to concentrate on the broader areas of second readings of bills, departmental estimates and budget debates. It is notorious that there is always a queue of bills waiting to obtain parliamentary time. In such a situation it would be difficult to blame the departments responsible for the promotion of legislation for the length of time which such legislation takes to reach the statute book. If there is little prospect o f a bill being introduced in the foreseeable future, then the work of consideration will naturally expand. That there are dangers in over- considering draft legislation has recently been highlighted by the inclusion of the unnecessary definition of mortgage as "including a charge" in the Building Societies Act, 1976. The inclusion of these words led to the refusal by Building Societies to lend on the security of lands which indemnified others against modest leasehold rents, a view which was upheld by the High Court in the case of Rafferty -v- Crowley, High Court, Murphy J. 24.6.83 — unreported, and necessitated the rectifying Building Societies Act, 1983. The process whereby the "heads" of a bill are circulated to all government departments which may have an interest in the matters covered by the proposed bill may slow down the process considerably, particularly if there are inter-departmental differences of opinion, as reportedly there are in relation to the enactment into Irish legislation of the United Nations Convention on Human Rights. As a result of these various influences we seem to have no regular programme of updating legislation. The penalties imposed by statutes have become totally eroded by inflation, as have any other monetary limits imposed. Consolidation of "live" statutes has only been attempted in a limited number of areas, such as that of tax and social welfare. It is urgently needed in many more; the areas of licensing, planning, company law and landlord and tenant come readily to mind, if s ome of the resources currently devoted to the Statute Law Reform Office or the Law Reform Commission could be devoted to a regular review and consolidation of our laws, then the burden which lawyers presently bear of trying to identify the precise statutory provisions which are in force on any particular matter would be lightened. • 268

Comment

267

The Sex of a Parent as a factor in Custody Disputes

269

Council Election 1983/84

275

Practice Notes

277

Addiction Problems reviewed by Society's Symposium Barring Orders and Ouster Orders — Judicial Change of attitude

278

279

Book Review

283

Companies (Amendment) Act, 1983

Part 2

288

Correspondence

292

Professional Information

294

Executive Editor: Mary Buckley Editorial Board: Charles R. M. Meredith. Chairman John F. Buckley Gary Bvrnc William Earlcy Michael V. O'Mahony Maxwell Sweeney Advertising: Eiam O 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. The appearance of an advertisement in this publication d o es not necessarily indicate approval by the Society for the product or service advertised.

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