The Gazette 1990

GAZETTE

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1990

Public should generally be Solicitors - Chief Justice The Chief Justice, Mr. Jus t i ce Finlay, in an interesting reserved judgment delivered on 6th October 1989 dealt with the question of the appointment of Notaries Public. The particular applicant concerned was a retired person who was not a lawyer but who was already a Commissioner for Oaths and a Peace Commissioner. The application was for his appointment as a Notary Public for the City and County of Cork. The application was both supported and opposed. In the course of his judgment the Chief Jus t i ce said:

matter, that there is not established a need which would warrant the appointment which is being sought. An application was made supported by an expansion which is referred to in the affidavits of the applicant which I accept, of in- ustrial and other activities in the Bishopstown and Western suburb area of Cork, but that application was made as recently as March of 1988, and notwithstanding signifi- ant opposition, I decided that there was a need and I appointed a fully appropriate and qualified Solicitor. His experience since that time seems to me to be vital and of great importance in this case. I must accept, of course, the total accuracy of my own Notaries' information and I have no reason to doubt it, and it is that though he is readily available, both in and out of his office in this area, there have been an extremely limited number of notarial acts which he has been requested to carry out. In those circumstances, I cannot see that a need has been established. The exceptional circumstance relied upon by counsel for the applicant in his careful submissions, namely, that there is a very special need and a very special capacity of the applicant as a retired person whole- time engaged in the functions of a Commissioner for Oaths and Peace Commissioner to fill it, does not seem to me to be established either. Therefore, with reluctance, of course, I must refuse this applica- on.' Q NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the One Hundred and Twenty Sixth Annual General Meeting of the SOLICITORS BENEVOLENT ASSOCI- ATION will be held at the Incor- porated Law Society's Building, Blackhall Place, Dublin, on Thursday the 8th of March 1990 at 12 noon: 1. To consider the annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 30th November 1989. 2. To elect Directors. 3. To deal with other matters appropriate to a General Meeting. Clare Leonard Secretary SOLICITORS BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION NO T I CE

safeguarded by a close adher- ence to the practice which my predecessors have established." That was a judgement of Chief Justice O'Dalaigh which was reported in 1965 Irish Jurist Reports, in other words a judgment on an application made in the year 1965. The applicant in that case was a person who had significant experience in that he was a chief clerk in a County Registrar's office. Chief Justice O'Higgins in deal- ng with the O'Connell application significantly being satisfied that there was a need for a Notary Public in the area dealt with the application by in effect adjourning it to see if a qualified lawyer would apply to fill the gap. I see no reason to depart from that general principle laid down in these two decisions. If anything has occurred which might even marginally alter the situation as I would understand it, since these two decisions were delivered by my predecessors it is that a greater legal significance, I believe, attches to the work of a Notary in an expanding European situation. It is for that reason that recently in dealing with an application I ex- pressed in an 'ex tempore' debate rather than any judgment or ruling, I expressed the view that even a fully-qualified Solicitor might be more appropriately an applicant to be appointed a Notary Public if he or she had a significant number of years' experience rather than being a newly-qualified Solicitor. In those circumstances, I must look, in this case, as to whether there is clear evidence of a need, and if there is, whether there are the exceptional circumstances which would warrant the appoint- ent of a person who is not a lawyer as a Notary Public. I am satisfied, having carefully considered this

'The first thing which is clear beyond any demonstration is that the applicant's personal reputation for responsibility, integrity and community service, all of which would be relevant matters, is beyond any question or challenge and there is no suggestion that he would not be for any responsible position a responsible applicant. He is not a lawyer, and whilst he has recently gone to the trouble of having himself instructed by an academic lawyer with regard to the particular duties or aspects of the duties of a Notary Public, he is not a person who has either qualified as a lawyer or who has practised as a lawyer. In that context, I am dis- posed to follow precedents which I find my two immediate prede- cessors charged with this responsi- bility have laid down, and that is Chief Justice O'Dalaigh in the case of Alfred McKeown, and Chief Justice O'Higgins in the case of James O'Connell. The principle laid down by Chief Justice O'Dalaigh and confirmed and accepted by Chief Justice O'Higgins can be shortly stated, as it was stated in the judgment of Chief Justice O'Higgins in O'Connell's case as follows: "The general rule confining the office of Notary Public to members of the Solicitors' profession does not, I need hardly say, arise from any desire to favour members of the legal profession. The reason for the rule is the very practical one that the discharge of the duties of Notary Public may call for a range of knowledge which is assured by academic training which precedes admission to the Solicitors' profession, the office of Notary Public is a high one in the field of international ex- hanges and its prestige will be

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