The Gazette 1910-11

M AY, 191 o]

The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.

109

Obituary. SIR SAMUEL BLACK, Solicitor, died on the 18th April, 1910, at his residence Glen Ebor, Belfast. Sir Samuel, who served his apprenticeship with the late Mr. John Bates, Solicitor, Town Clerk, Belfast, was admitted in Hilary Term, 1854, and practised in Belfast. In 1871 he was appointed Town Solicitor to the Corporation of Belfast, and in 1878 he was appointed to the combined offices of Town Solicitor and Town Clerk, which he filled until last year, when he retired. He was President of the Northern Law Society from 1895 to 1897, and he was an extraordinary member of the Council of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland from 1895 to 1904. New Solicitor. ADMISSIONS DURING APRIL, 1910. JJu'iitr Served Apprenticeship to Girvin, William Harold William J. Girvin, Killor- g-lin. Recent Decisions affecting Solicitors. (Notes of decisions, whether in reported or unreported cases, of interest to Solicitors, are invited from Members.) CIRCUIT CASE. (Before Palles, C.B.) Lifford, March 15, 1910. Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1906 Costs Local Government - Labourers Acts Labourers (Ir.) Order, 1909, r. 55 (8) and (9) Costs of owner or lessee. Thomas Elliott and Richard Magee v. Stran- orlar Rural District Council. A judicial tenant upon whose holding a fair rent has been fixed under the Land Law (Ir.) Acts is

(Ir.) Acts and for completing transfer thereof to the council. The plaintiff, Richard Magee, was a judicial tenant by virtue of an order of the Irish Land Commission fixing a fair rent for the holding, portion of which the Stranorlar Rural District Council had acquired for the purposes of the Labourers (Ir.) Acts. The compensation awarded did not exceed £60, and relying on the Labourers (Ir.) Order, 1909, r. 55, his solicitor, Thomas Elliott, claimed £2 2s. for 'the costs of deducing title and completing the transfer of the lands. The council refused to pay on the grounds that a judicial tenant is only an occupier, and not an owner or lessee, and is therefore only entitled to a fee of 10s. 6d. as and for the work done in respect of the plot acquired under r. 55 (9). The present action was instituted to have this question determined. Rule 55 (8) and (9) provide as follows : (8) At the option of the so'.icitor acting on behalf of an owner or lessee, the total fees payable for deducing title to lands taken under the Acts, and completing transfer thereof to the Council, may, with– out any taxation as aforesaid, be in accordance with the following scale:

Where the total purchase-money payable to an owner or lessee in respect of lands taken does not exceed £60 - - Where the same exceeds £'60 but does not exceed £100 - - - - - Where the same exceeds £100 but does not exceed £200 - - - - And beyond £200 at the rate of two per cent, for every additional £100 or part thereof up to and including £1,000, And beyond £1,000 at the rate of one per cent, for every additional £100 or part thereof.

-£220

3

3

0

-440

(9) Where, on the application of a council or their solicitor, a short abstract or declaration of title is furnished on behalf of the occupier (other than the owner or lessee) of land authorised to be acquired, the council may pay to such occupier, without any taxation, a sum not exceeding 10s. 6d. as a fee in respect of the employment of such solicitor by him for the purpose of making out and furnishing such abstract or declaration. Babington, for plaintiffs. The Lands Clauses Acts are incorporated in the Labourers Code by s. 16 of the Labourers (Ir.) Act, 1883, and defined by s. 21 of the same Act, to include the Railways Act (Ir.), 1851. Section 23 of the Interpretation Act, 1889, contains a similar provision. The Lands Clauses Acts as applied to the Labourers Code are further amended by the introduction of the Second Schedule of the