The Gazette 1992

GAZETTE

APRIL 1992

What else can one say about a guide! One reads it and one then leaves it on one's bookshelf for future reference. I think anyone who purchases this guide, will be delighted to have it and to refer to it whenever the need arises. The book has illustrations by Michael Moriarty and, as I am a particular lover of cartoons myself, I found them very funny. As we know, every picture is worth a thousand words and for the cartoons alone, I would recommend buying this book. Butterworth Ireland Tax Acts 1991-92 Edited by Alan Moore, Consultant Editor, J.M. O'Callaghan [Dublin, Butterworth (Ireland) Ltd, 1992 IR£49.50] Mr. Justice Franfurter said of his spiritual brother, Mr. Justice Holmes, that he (Holmes) did not have a curmudgeon's feelings about paying taxes. A law clerk who exclaimed, "Don 't you hate to pay taxes!" was rebuked with hot response, "No, young man, I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilisation." (Felix Franfurter, Mr. JusticeHolmes and the Supreme Court, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Harvard University Press, 1939). Some of us consider that the payment of taxes is a charitable payment which includes support for the unemployed and old-age pensioners. These feelings take the sting out of the enforced parting with our money. But we are concerned that the money is spent wisely. Butterworth Ireland Tax Acts 1991-1992 represents an important handbook of Irish tax legislation which contains in one volume the Income Tax Act, 1967, the Capital Gains Tax Act, 1975, and the Corporation Tax Act, 1976 (all amended to the Finance Act, 1991) together with the non-amending sections of the Finance Acts 1967 to 1991, and the major statutory instruments for each tax. Elma Lynch

The statutory instruments in connection with the three taxes are considered with cross-references. The notes on the interpretation of complex sections represent a significant feature of the book. There are also references to, and a short summary of, any Revenue statement of practice under the relevant section. Under appropriate sections, the reader is referred to definitions of relevant terms. A how-to-use section, a detailed index and a comprehensive table of statutes are further welcome additions to this book. Lawyers will be familiar with the dicta of the House of Lords in the famous case of IRC -v- Duke of Westminster (1936) 19 T.C. 490. The general approach to tax avoidance was stated by Lord Tomlin as follows:- "Every man is entitled, if he can, to order his affairs so that the tax attracted under the appropriate Act is less than it otherwise would be. If he succeeds in ordering them so as to secure this result then however unappreciative the Commissioners of Inland Revenue or his fellow tax payers may be of his ingenuity, he cannot be compelled to pay an increased tax". Butterworth Ireland has produced a pathbreaking book on Irish taxation laws. Lawyers should welcome this new publication. Reorganising Failing Business - The Legal Framework [by Michael Forde, The Mercier Press] 215pp Dr. Forde's latest work on commercial law is the first Irish text book dedicated exclusively to the legal aspects of restructuring businesses encountering financial difficulties. The work has been prompted by the enactment of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1990, but encompasses a study of the legal Eamonn Hall

structures available prior to the introduction of this legislation, many

of which are still available to businesses and individuals.

The book comprises nine chapters in all. Four are dedicated to the law and practice relating to unincorporated individuals and partnerships, four relate to structures affecting limited companies and the Final chapter describes the rules and principles relating to the administration of insurance companies. Court protection has been available to unincorporated persons since the Bankruptcy (Ireland) Act, 1857, and is re-enacted in the Bankruptcy Act, 1988. Dr. Forde describes the procedure and the objective of such schemes in detail and this background is helpful to an understanding of the principles reference to floating charges. This approach is quite proper in that receivership is essentially a means of enforcing such charges. However, this book describes the law and practice relating to receiverships from a more positive perspective with particular emphasis on the constructive aspects of a receivership from the point of view both of the debenture holder and the company, its creditors and employees. In particular the author describes a number of what could be described as "management" aspects of a receivership and systematically describes the legal effects of receivership on the company, its shareholders, directors, contracts, company property and on creditors. The liability of a receiver is examined in relation to each of these aspects. As there is no Irish textbook dedicated exclusively to receivership law, the comprehensive treatment of the subject within this book will be a welcome point of reference for practitioners. The book contains a chapter devoted to schemes of arrangement under underlying the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1990. Most text books on company law treat the subject of receiverships within their commentaries on securities and with particular

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