The Gazette 1972

Professional Independence The man in the street going about his business in a democratic regime in times of peace takes his consti- tutional rights for granted—that is if he thinks of them at all. Two events during the past few weeks throw a vivid light on the role of our profession in standing between the executive and the citizen and their rele- vance in present conditions deserves more emphasis than they have publicly received. On February 10 a meeting of 400 lawyers was held in Belfast under the chairman- ship of the President of the Law Society of Northern Ireland to consider resolutions protesting against the denial of proper facilities to solicitors to interview clients suffering internment, or properly speaking the rights of the internees to proper facilities for professional assis- tance and advice. The question at issue is the rights of the public not merely the claim of the profession. As the total number of practising solicitors in the North does not exceed 600 it may be taken that the meeting was a cross-section of the profession and that the 400 present were probably roughly representative of divergent pro- fessional opinion on policital issues. The decision was unanimous in opposing the present attitude of the authorities towards the rights of prisoners and detainees and also commenting on certain other matters not strictly within the legal sphere, such as facilities for regular medical inspection of internees. A full report of the meeting is printed on page 43.

controlled and prescribed solely by judicial committees in which the Lord Chief Justice exercises a predominant role. The Ministry of Home Affairs has no function in the administration of justice or control of the legal profession. An independent judiciary cannot function without an independent profession and to the extent to which the executive establishes control of the profession the independent functions of the judiciary and the freedom of the individual is likewise curtailed. What has happened in the North is not without its lesson for the Republic. The Government has intro- duced in Dail Eireann the Prices (Amendment) Bill, 1971, which if passed in its present form will signifi- cantly reduce the independence of the legal profession by referring its entire remuneration to a committee which will be directly responsible to the Minister for Justice. The Minister will thus secure the power to con- trol the profession through its remuneration. The powers sought in the Bill are without precedent in Northern Ireland, England or Scotland. The legal profession unlike any other is directly con- cerned with the rights of individual citizens. In every State the greatest danger to the rights of the small man comes from the State and big business interests. It is a necessary corollary that the profession should be under the control of the judiciary not the State. In the nature of its duties it cannot be compared with any other profession or occupation. The Society in 1969 made proposals for the establishment of a Central Costs Committee broadly representative of the judiciary, the profession, the public and financial experts and respon- sible directly to the Oireachtas. It would regulate fees without recourse to the State but its orders would be subject to annulment in either House of the Oireachtas. The sole question in issue between the profession and the Government is that while the Government wish to hand control of fees to the Minister for Justice the profession wish to retain judicial control responsible to the Oireachtas. The examples quoted above from experience in Northern Irelnd are directly relevant in this connection. It is now more than ever important that the principle of independent judicial control of the solicitors' profes- sion should be firmly upheld.

The second highlight of the month was the decision of the County Court judge at Armagh in Moore v Shillington and the Ministry of Defence in which damages were awarded to the plaintiff, an ex-detainee, for illegal detention and illegal treatment while under detention. The judge rejected the evidence tendered for the defendants on questions of fact and criticised the attitude of army medical doctors. It has been com- mented that his decision undermines the whole pro- cedure of internment and interrogation of internees as at present conducted. This cannot have been a welcome decision for Stormont and is, of course, open to appeal to the High Court. Whatever criticism may be justly expressed on Stor- mont and the Northern Ireland regime, the judiciary and the legal profession there are completely indepen- dent of the executive power. The profession, the rules of Court, the regulation of costs and ancillary matters are

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