The Gazette 1973

Non-availability of Civil Legal Aid Constitutional

action in respect of a loss occasioned to him by the act or default of some defendants; he appears personally in this action, and could not finance the action. O'Keeffe P. stated that under the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act, 1962, the State had chosen to provide legal aid for persons charged with criminal offences. But a person contemplating civil proceedings is left wholly without legal aid from the State. The plaintiff has a legal right which has been infringed, but has not got the necessary means to vindicate that legal right. He looks to the State for assistance, and finds that none is forthcoming. However, according to O'Keeffe P., it is for the legislature to determine how the personal rights of the citizen are to be vindicated. The legislation confining legal aid to criminal cases does not fail to accept and acknowledge the equality of all citizens before the law. Consequently, although he sympathised with the plaintiff, he was copelled to dismiss his claim. [O'Shaughnessy v. Attorney-General; O'Keeffe P.; unreported; 16 February 1971.] must before entering for the first Irish or Preliminary examination lodge a Petition and Memorial signed by himself and by the solicitor to whom he proposes to be apprenticed and must obtain the consent of the Society for entry into indentures of apprentice- ship. Only when this condition has been satisfied will the student be eligible for the entrance examina- tion in Irish. As regards non-degree students places in the law faculty will be allocated in order of priority on a first come first served basis. This order will be determined by the order of priority of registration with the Society. It is therefore essential for applicants in their own interest to comply with the above requirements and to register with the Society as soon as they are eligible. The University Authorities will have regard to the date of registration with the Society in allocating the limited number of available places for non-degree entry for solicitors' apprentices. For the purpose of this memorandum Registration with the Society means lodgment of the Petition for permission to enter into indentures with the certificate of consent from a solicitor-master qualified to take an Apprentice with evidence of passing the First Irish examination and the Preliminary examination (or exemption from the latter). An intending apprentice who has already graduated in Arts, Law or a Faculty deemed equivalent is exempt from the Society's Preliminary examination (but not from the examination in Irish). 47

Plaintiff, a former hackney owner, now unemployed, claimed that Sections 2-7 of the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act 1962 are unconstitutional, inasmuch as they appear to be inconsistent with the Constitution and in particular with : (a) Article 15, Section 4, which declares that the Oireachtais shall not enact any law which is in any way repugnant to the Constitution. (b) Article 34, Section 3, Subsection 1—which de- clares that the Courts of First Instance shall in- clude a High Court invested with full original jurisdiction in and power to determine all matters and questions, whether of law or fact, civil or criminal. (c) Article 40, Section 1—which declares that all citizens shall, as human persons, be held equal before the law. (d) Article 40, Section 3—which declares that the the State guarantees in its laws to respect, and as far as possible and practicable by its laws to defend and vindicate the personal rights of the citizen. (e) Article 45, which is not cognisable by the Courts. The plaintiff was advised he had a good cause of The Council having been notified of a shortage of places in the law faculties of the universities particularly University College, Dublin, where it has been necessary to establish a quota of students for entry to the Law Degree Faculty and for non-degree entry for solicitors' apprentices it is therefore necessary to draw the atten- tion of intending Apprentices and Headmasters of schools to the position which will obtain in 1973 and subsequent years if the number of applicants for Uni- versity places exceeds the number of places available. It is a prerequisite for entry for the Society's First and Second law examinations that the students who fail to obtain places in a university law faculty cannot be admitted to the Society's examinations. The Society's entrance examination requirements are as follows: 1. A pass in the First Irish examination which is held in July each year. 2. A pass in the Society's Preliminary examination which is held in July each year or alternatively a pass in the open Public Matriculation of an Irish University (without recourse to the leaving certi- ficate or other non-University examination). Essen- tial subjects at the Society's Preliminary and for Matriculation purposes include English, Mathema- tics and Latin. 3. Students who satisfy the Society's Entrance examina- tions mentioned above and who obtain entry to the Law Faculty of an Irish university will qualify for admission as solicitors' apprentices but every student

Limited Places for Non-Graduate Apprentices in Law Faculties of Universities