The Gazette 1990

JULY/AUGUST 1990

GAZETTE

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In this Issue Viewpoint

l I L LAWSOCIETY M M / r I ir oFiRELAND ^ ^ I f I t a M I I Vol.84No.6Julv/August / l / L I

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Entitlement to damages for breach of Community legislation under English law Minutes of Half Yearly Meeting Law Society Survey of Computerisation of Solicitors Offices Lawbrief People & Places Land Registry Younger Members News Solicitors Financial Services UNIX and Networking Explained Book Review Professional Information * Executive Editor: Mary Gaynor Committee: Eamonn G. Hall, Chairman Michael V. O'Mahony, Vice-Chairman John F. Buckley Gary Byrne Patrick McMahon Charles R. M. Meredith Advertising: Seán Ó hOisín. Telephone: 305236 Fax: 307860 Printing: Turner's Printing Co. Ltd., Longford. * The views expressed in this publication, save where otherwise 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 does not necessarily indicate approval by the Society for the product or service advertised. 201 206 209 210 214 217 219 220 223 227 229 Daire Murphy John Schutte

Viewpoint Detailed comment on the Report of the Fair Trade Commi s s i on into Restrictive Practices in the Legal Profession must await the delibera- tions of the Committee wh i ch the Council of the Society has appoint- ed to collate the responses of members to the recommendations. Some general thoughts on the Report may however be expressed at this stage. It is disappointing to observe the failure of the members of the Commi s s i on to agree on some fundamental points and its efforts to resolve the conflict bet- ween the theory of pure competi- tion and the need to protect the public. Perhaps the most curious aspect of the Report is that in wh i ch the Chairman argued against Profes- sional Indemnity Insurance being made compulsory for members of the legal professions. The need to ensure that there is adequate insurance based compen s a t i on available to members of the public for acts of negligence was seen almost 60 years ago in relation to traffic and transport on our road- ways. A client who has suffered loss as a result of a solicitor's negligence should not have to rely solely on that solicitor's assets. If this were the ca se a wise client would not instruct any young member of the professon wh i ch is hardly what the Commission would wi sh to encourage. It is however, in the area of con- veyancing that the Chairman is impossibly optimistic. He envisages that appropriate action to reform the law to reduce its unnecessary complexity and to bring the pro- cedures and methods of the Land Registry up to date " ma y take five to seven years". It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the Chairman has not grasped the size of the problem wh i ch exists here.

Even where resources have been devoted on a significant scale, as in the UK or to a more limited extent in Northern Ireland, it necessarily takes a number of years to bring about statutory reform in the area of land law and conveyancing. Equally even if any significant re- s ou r c es were devoted to the improvement of the Land Registry or if it were to be converted into a public corporation as the Law S o c i e ty has r e commended, it would certainly be a great deal longer than five to seven years before the combined effects of statutory reform and improvement of the registration s y s t em could bring about any lessening of the present complexity in the law re- lating to conveyancing and the registration systems. In passing it may be r ema r k ed t hat t he complexity of the law will not be improved if there is to be a continuance of ill-drafted, though s o c i a l ly desirable, l eg i s l a t i on. C omme n c i ng wi th the Family Home Protection Act and con- t i nu i ng on to t he J u d i c i al Separation and Family Law Reform Act, it has unfortunately been the ca se that the effects of this legi- slation on conveyancing practice have been to make matters more difficult for the solicitor and the client and to slow down the process of transfer. It is to be hoped that the Report will have some impact in govern- ment circles on the need to do something about our outdated legal and administrative structures in the areas of land transfer. Improving infra-structure in a country does not only mean building more and bigger roads it means providing a modern legal infra-structure if a country is to be seen to be a modern efficient democracy. • 199

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