The Gazette 1990

GAZETTE

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1990

RETIREMENT OF AIB GROUP LAW AGENT After 31 years combined service with Allied Irish Banks and its constituent Provincial Bank of Ireland, Rory O'Connor retired as Group Law Agent on 1st January this year. During his years as legal adviser to AIB, Rory kept in constant touch with the profession through his active involvement in the work of the Law Society and served on various committees. He contri- buted to the work of the Education Committee and was involved at different times with the work of the Law School. He was a founder member of the AIB/Law Society Annual Golf Competition which has done much to foster good business relations between the Bank and the members of the Solicitors profes- sion. In 1988, Rory had a definitive work on the law and practice of notaries in Ireland, The Irish Notary, published by Professional Books. We understand that Rory will be continuing in private practice and has been retained by AIB for a particular professional assignment in a non-banking area which is likely to keep his mind active for some time to come. • IS h photo on p .20) SADSI The Solicitors Apprentices Debat- ing Society of Ireland are entering a team for the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. The competition takes the form of a moot court, with each team being required to present arguments for both applicant and respondent based on the hypothetical problem of pol- lution of the international environ- ment. The competition involves the preparation of detailed written memorials and the presentation of oral arguments over a one week period from the 24th to 31st March in front of a panel of international judges in Washington D.C. This prestigious competition, which is organised by the American Society for International Law, has this year attracted entries from thirty-five countries. The Law Society has made a very generous contribution towards the cost of sending this five person team. However, the apprentices are now faced with the task of raising the remaining necessary funds, which it is estimated will be in the region of £3,500. It is hoped that members of the profession will support the team by making a generous contribution the the S.A.D.S.I. Jessup Fund, at the Bank of Ireland, Stoneybatter.

AUCTIONEERS WERE NOT LIABLE FOR FAILING TO DETECT A MASTERPIECE The Court of Appeal (Lord Justice Slade, Lord Justice Mann and Sir David Croom-Johnson) held in Luxmoore - May and another -v- Messenger May Baverstock (The Independent (UK) December 22, 1989) that the standard of care to be expected of provincial auction- eers and valuers in assessing the sale value of an unattributed work of art was analogous to that of a medical general practitioner, as opposed to a specialist, and allowed ample scope not only for differing views, but even for a wrong view, without necessarily rendering the valuer liable for breach of his duty. The Court of Appeal allowed an appeal by the defendants, Messenger May Baverstock, from the decision of Mr. Justice Simon Brown (The Independent, 23 November 1988) who awarded the plaintiffs, Penelope Luxmoore-May and Paul Andrew Luxmoore-May, the sum of £101,625, including £76,222 damages and £25,403 interest, on their claim against the defendants for breach of contract in failing to exercise reasonable skill and care in the valuation and sale of two oil paintings. These paintings which were now said to be the work of George Stubbs ARA (1724-1806), had initially been valued by the de- fendants at £30 to £50 the pair. They were sold at the defendants' auction house for £840. Five months later they fetched £99,000 at Sotherbys. The Court of Appeal (Lord Justice Lloyd, Lord Justice Farquharson and Sir Denys Buckley) held in Kirkhan -v- Anderton (The Times, January 4, 1990) that where a prisoner committed suicide in a remand centre while suffering from clinical depression and the police knew of his suicidal tendencies, yet failed to pass that information on to the remand centre authorities, his widow was entitled to recover damages in negligence against the police. In the circumstances, the de- fences of volenti non fit injuria (that POLICE LIABLE TO SUICIDE'S WIDOW

to which one consents is not an injury) and ex turpi causa non oritur actio (an action does not arise from a base cause) could not succeed. The Court of Appeal so held when dismissing an appeal by the Chief Constable of Greater Man- chester Police from the order of Mr. Justice Tudor Evans on December 21, 1988, awarding the widow damages of £6,717 under the UK Fatal Accidents Act, 1976 and the UK Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1934. THE PERFECT GARDA The publication of the Annual Report of the Garda Siochana Complaints Board for 1988-1989 prompts the writer to recall the words of Professor August Vollmer, a leading police administrator in the United States, who argues in his book The Police and Modern Society that "the citizen expects police officers to have wisdom of Solomon, the courage of David, the strength of Samson, the patience of Job, the leadership of Moses, the kindness of the Good Samaritan, the strategical training of Alexander, the faith of Daniel, the diplomacy of Lincoln, the tolerance of the carpenter of Nazareth and finally an intimate knowledge of every branch of the natural, biological and social sciences. If he had all these he might be a good policeman". The Annual Report of the Garda Siochana Complaints Board for 1988-89 is published by the Stationery Office (PI. 6637) £2.20. The Chairman of the board is Mr. Seamus MacKenna, S.C. The Appropriation Accounts to- gether with the Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General for 1988, recently published by the Stationery Office (PI. 6615 £9.00), disclose that the sum of £90,906 was expended for Secret Service out of a grant of £150,000. A sur- plus of £59,094 had to be sur- rendered. The Accounting Officer explained the cause of variation between expenditure and grant by stating that the estimate was nec- essarily conjectural. The Comp- troller and Auditor General certified that the amount shown in the account to have been expended was supported by certificates from the responsible Ministers. • THE IRISH SECRET SERVICE

14