The Gazette 1989

GAZETTE

DECEMBER 1989

prudence. The comprehensive and balanced analysis afforded to ad- ministrative law issues in the Annual Review is also to be found in the other chapters of the Review. Disraeli noted that " so sweet was the delight of study". Selden wrote that "patience was chiefest fruit of study". Nevertheless, we need not assume that the 470 pages of text in the Annual Review were achieved without effort on the part of the authors. It has truly been stated that there never was a great book that did not cost un- speakable labour. Your reviewer and many practitioners were greatly assisted in their professional en- deavours by the fruits of the research carried out by Raymond Byrne and William Binchy as manifested in the Annual Review 1987. The task of professional legal advisers will continue to be made easier with the Annual Review 1988. Finally, your reviewer noted in this Gazette in relation to last year's Annual Review that Raymond Byrne and William Binchy had examined 'an avalanche of judicial opinions and legislative enact- ments', had 'succeeded in separ- ating the gold from the alloy in the coinage of the law and had admirably distilled the notable features of that law within the confines of their Annual Review'. It was stated that the Round Hall Press expected the 1987 Review to be the first of a series; 'a new Irish institution had been inaugurated'. Your reviewer is glad to report that the new Irish institution in the form of the Annual Review 1988 is flour- ishing. Raymond Byrne and William Binchy have produced a vade- mecum which judges, legal pract- itioners, academics and students should cherish. Eamonn G. Hall VALUATION OF PROPERTY FOR RATING PURPOSES Valuation Office, October 1989 The Valuation Office has recently published a handy, if somewhat cursory, guide to the underlying legislation and the practical pro- cedures currently associated with the Irish rating system. The principal statutory enact- ments are listed and the effect of certain provisions loosely des-

cribed. Sadly, the booklet fails to answer one of the fundamental questions that has bothered your reviewer throughout the whole of his professional career - namely, how on earth are rateable valua- tions arrived at? Paragraph 8 pur- ports to describe the "basis of valuation" but, beyond a some- what vague exclamation of "net annual value", falls far short of real enlightenment; the word "eureka" is noticeably absent from one's spontaneous reactions. One may be glad to hear - or one may not, as the case may be - that the Act of 1988 provides for "continuous revision" to replace the hitherto intended "annual cycle" for revision of the Valuation Lists, with effect from 1st February, 1989. Section 3 of that Act em- powers an owner or occupier of property, or the rating authority or the Valuation Office to apply at any time for a revision of valuation, and prescribes the appropriate proced- ures for determination of all such applications. Perhaps the most useful part of this booklet is its description of the procedures whereby an owner or occupier may appeal against a revision of valuation, in the first instance, to the Commissioner of Valuation and, in the second in- stance, the Valuation Tribunal - a new statutory animal born of the 1988 Act. Charles R .M. Meredith LAW REFORM COMM I SS I ON REPORT ON LAND LAW AND CONVEYANCING LAW (1) General Proposals CRC 30-1989. IRE5.00 INTRODUCTION The Law Reform Commission has just published its first Report on Land and Conveyancing Law*. The background to this Report is that the Attorney General requested the Law Reform Commission in 1987 to look at the reform of "conveyancing law and practice in areas where this could lead to savings for house pur- chasers". The resulting Report makes a number of useful proposals which might lead to some small savings for house purchasers but, on balance, the Report does not achieve to any significant extent the aim set for it by the Attorney General. For the most part, this Report only recommends changes

in the law which would remove anomalies or redundant provisions of a somewhat technical nature and does not recommend major sub- stantive changes. It may well be that the intention of the Com- mission is to deal with more sub- stantial proposals in its later reports on the issue of conveyancing law generally. It is hoped that the Commission will rise to the chall- enge of proposing reforms in an area of the law which is so much in need of the reforming hand of the Oireachtas. SIMPLIFYING AND MODERNISING CONVEYANCING The First Part of the Report is devoted to possible changes which would simplify and modernise conveyancing. Title Period The Commission looked at the Statutory Period of Title in open contracts. Section 1 of the Vendor and Purchaser Act 1874 provides that the vendor must trace back his title for 40 years. The Commission recommends that the term for which title must be shown under the Vendor & Purchaser Act 1874 be reduced from 40 to 20 years. This is a sensible proposal though of limited application. Partial Merger In order to avoid any doubts which might arise in the future, the Com- mission recommends that a person, who is entitled to a leasehold interest in a portion only or property held under a lease and actually acquires any superior interest in that property, be legally entitled, if he so wished, to merge the leasehold interest in the next of all superior interests held by him. Fee Tail In spite of suggestions that the fee tail estate be abolished, the Com- mission recommends its retention but that it be registered at the Registry of Deeds or the Land Registry (as appropriate) instead of the High Court as at present. Partition Following the doubts arising from the O'D -v- O'D (1983) and FF-v- CF (1985) decisions in the High Court, the Commission recommends that, to resolve the matter, a statutory provision should be enacted

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