The Gazette 1930-33

DECEMBER, 1931]

The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.

27

W. S. Hayes, 301 ;

T. H. R. Craig, 300 ;

be a member of our Society, and I am satisfied that if those members of our profession who are not members of our Society realised all that the Society does for the good of the profession generally, they would at once join our Society. Courts of Justice Act, 1924. You will recollect that when I addressed you at the half-yearly meeting in May last I told you that the Minister for Justice had stated in the Dail that he proposed in the autumn of this year to introduce legislation on the Report of the Joint Committee of the Oireachtas dated the 6th November, 1930, and I also told you that your Council had made certain suggestions to the Minister with regard to such legislation. Unfortunately, the Minister has not yet found it possible to introduce the promised legislation ; I am sure he will do so at the earliest possible moment, and when he does I hope the opportunity will be taken of codifying the rules of procedure in the Supreme Court and High Court. We are at present working on a set of Rules adopting and modifying in certain respects the Rules of the old Supreme Court of Judicature, which makes it necessary on many occasions to refer to these latter Rules. It would, I think, be more satisfactory to have one complete code of Rules under the Courts of Justice Act, 1924, on which we could work without reference to the old Rules. Circuit Court Rules. This is a subject which has called for our attention for many years, and as the position is now clear I need not enlarge on it to any great extent. You will all remember that as the result of the decision in the case of " Ouinn and White v. Stokes and Quirke " a Special General Meeting of this Society was held on the 19th August last, at which meeting the resolution, which will be found in the Report, was passed. At that Special General Meeting I told you that on the 12th August the Minister for Justice and the Attorney-General met a deputation con– sisting of three members of the Bar, myself and your Secretary, and that the Minister, while he found it impossible to immediately summon the Dail and Senate to a special session to pass the necessary legislation legalising all decrees and orders made, and

D. J. Reilly, 295 ; E. H. Burne, 288 ; J. J. Lynch, 288; A. H. S. Orpen, 286 ; A. D. Orr, 285 ; C. J. Laverty, 284 ; E. J. Mallins, 281 ; Peter O'Connor, 280 ; H. K. Toomey, 279 ; M. E. Knight, 276 ; Basil Thompson, 274 ; W. G. Bradley, 272 ; P. J. O'Sullivan, 265 ; P. N. Smith, 261 ; G. A. Overend, 251 ; W. V. Seddall, 246 ; H. P. Mayne, 244 ; P. E. O'Donnell, 225 ; J. B. Hamill, 216 And the following to form a supplemental list in case of vacancies : William Earl}', 211 ; W. J. Norman, 185 ; John J. Shiel, 184. THE PRESIDENT, addressing the meeting, said : Gentlemen, on rising to move the adoption of the Report which is in your hands, I am glad to have the opportunity of welcoming you to our new home. Our new premises are, as you see, on a site adjoining the site upon which our old premises stood, but they have this great advantage over the old premises that they are self-contained. I have no hesitation in saying that these new premises will adequately fulfil their purpose and are fitting headquarters for our profession. In addition to this fine Hall we have a most dignified Council Chamber, and excellent Library, accommodation for our Secretary and his staff, and a Lecture and Examination Hall for our apprentices. These premises are a credit to the architectural skill of Mr. Byrne, principal Architect of the Board of Works, who designed them, to his assistants, and to Messrs. Alex. Hull & Co., the builders ; and we also owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. R. Caulfeild Orpen, R.H.A., who, as our Architect, looked after our interests, and to our Secretary, Mr. Wakely, who from the time that the rebuilding of the Four Courts commenced has spared no effort in assuring that our premises would be all that they should be, and whose efforts have been crowned with success. Membership of the Society. The membership this year (701) shows a slight increase over that of last year (690), while the number of Solicitors practising in the Irish Free State has increased from 1,032 to 1,038 ; the increased membership is to a certain extent gratifying, but, as so many of my predecessors have said, it is not enough. Every Solicitor in the Irish Free State should