The Gazette 1973

Trade Disputes Before Lord Reid, Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest, Lord Hod- son, Lord Simon of Glaisdale and Lord Cross of Chelsea. A demarcation dispute between the National Dock Labour Board and the British Steel Corporation was settled by the House of Lords when they decided how much of the work of moving iron ore from the holds of ships lying at the jetty in the newly constructed harbour at Port Talbot to the cor- porat'on's neighbouring stock yard was work which only regis- tered dock workers could lawfully be employed to perform. National Dock Labour Board v. British Steel Corporation; House of Lords; 13/12/1972. Trade Descriptions Act Before Lord Widgery, the Lord Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Ashworth and Mr. Justice W llis. "Recklessly" in section 14(1) of the Trade Descriptions Act, 1968, in relation to an advertisement means that the advertiser did not have regard to the truth or fals'ty of his advertisement even though it canot be shown that he was deliberately closing his eyes to the truth, or that he had any kind of dishonest mind. It is not necessary to prove that the staement was made with that degree of irresponsibility which is implied in the phrase "careless whether it be true or false." MFI Warehouses Ltd. v. Nattrass; Q.B.D.; 22/12/1972.

between three years and three years and a day cannot nor- mally make much difference to a defendant; it may be d : sas- trous to a plaintiff". Pritman Kaur v. S. Russell & Sons Ltd.; C.A.; 12/12/1972. Tax Before Lord Justice Davies, Lord Justice Stamp and Lord Justice Orr. [Judgment delivered November 9th] The appropr'ate amount of tax to be deducted under the Gourley rule was considered by their Lordships when they allowed an appeal by the plaintiffs, Lyndale Fashion Manu- facturers, of Margaret Street, W. from a decision of Judge Leslie at Bloomsbury and St. Marylebone County Court that £495 damages awarded to Mr. Max Rich, a traveling sales- man employed on commission who was dismissed by them in September, 1967, should be reduced by £42 for income tax. Lyndale Fashion Manufacturers v. Rich; 14/11/1972; C.A. Before Mr. Justice Goff. An allowance pa d to a retiring partner by the continuing partners in a firm of chartered accountants was held not to be income immediately derived from the carrying on of the retiring partner's profession. His Lordship dismissed an appeal by Mr. Richard Graham Pegler from a decision of the general commissioners that earned income relief was not deductible for assessing the amount of tax payable on the a/lowance. Pegler v. Abell; 15/11/72; Ch.D.

EUROPEAN SECTION E.E.C. Laws may force big policy changes on private Irish firms

of the E.E.C. thinking was that the employees of the company concerned would appoint one third of the members of the supervisory board, who would take part in the management of the company. This would be in addition to works councils who, under the regulation on the proposed new European "federal" type of com- pany would have a veto on decisions on the principles of recruitment, promotion and dismissal, principles and methods of pay, working hours and so on. The regula- tion would also require the works council in each "European" company to be consulted on closures, long term arrangements for co-operation with other com- panies, and other important changes in companies' activities. Democratic Discus ion Mr. Temple Lang said it was extremely important that all these changes should be thoroughly discussed in advance in Ireland. He suggested that it was essential that an Oireachtas committee on draft E.E.C. laws should be set up at once. It was deplorable, he said, that the Government had chosen to suit its own con- venience by carrying out E.E.C. requirements by Minis- terial order and not by legislation after proper demo- cratic debate. Discussion of draft E.E.C. laws by lawyers and other experts on a technical level "was not a sub- stitute for public democratic discussion." {The Irish Times, 17/11/1972.)

One of the most serious and difficult legal problems facing Irish businessmen in the E.E.C. was whether Irish private companies were to be required to have a minimum paid up capital of £1,600, Mr. John Temple Lang, lecturer in Company Law in Trinity College told a meeting of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries in Dublin last night. This would be necessary if the E.E.C. treated Irish public and private companies as the same type of legal body. Between one quarter and one half of all Irish companies would be affected. Publication of Accounts Another important change would be that all Irish private companies would be required to publish their accounts. This would mean that creditors and com- petitors could see how profitable Irish private com- panies are, and trade unions would be able to judge how far private companies could afford to meet claims for increased wages. Shareholders could compare the profit- ability of different private companies. A large number of takeovers of companies which were relatively un- profitable were likely to result from disclosure of these accounts, Mr. Temple Lang said. In the longer term the E.E.C. was also likely to require larger companies to have a two-level manage- ment consisting of an executive and a supervisory board. Mr. Temple Lang, author of a book on the legal aspects of the E.E.C. for Ireland, said that part

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