The Gazette 1976

JUNE/JULY 1976

GAZETTE

Banque Nationale de Paris (Ireland) Ltd.; The Bank of Nova Scotia; Chase and Bank of Ireland (International) Ltd.; Bank of America. Or any other bank licensed under the Central Bank Acts as the Society may from time to time approve. London clearing bank s: Barclays Bank Ltd.; The Bank of England; Coutts & Co.; The District Bank Ltd.; Glyn Mills & Co.; Guinness Mahon & Co. Ltd.; Lloyds Bank Ltd.; Martins Bank Ltd.; The Midland Bank Ltd.; The National Bank Ltd.; The National Westminster Bank Ltd.; Williams & Deacon's Bank Ltd.; The Westminster Bank Ltd. Scottish clearing bank s: The Bank of Scotland; The British Linen Bank; The Clydesdale Bank Ltd.; The National Commercial Bank of Scotland Ltd.; The Royal Bank of Scotland. Dated this 17th day of June 1976. Signed on behalf of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland PATRICK C. MOORE President of The Incorporated Law Society of Ireland. I concur in the making of the above regulations THOMAS A. FIN LAY President of the High Court. Th e effect of these regulations which are intended to be of a temporary character, is to authorise solicitors to open designated client accounts for clients' monies with the named British and Scottish clearing banks, or any branch in Northern Ireland of an Irish associated bank, or in any of the other designated banks. portant still, injustices may arise if these discretionary powers are exercised in widely differing ways by differ- ent Courts. Regular conferring among Judges and Justices could help to minimise inconsistency, and it is possible that mo re specific principles will be established on appeal. But a responsibility also rests on the legal profession to monitor the Act's operation and to d r aw attention to any glaring inconsistencies in its application by different Courts. How successful the Act will be in terms of providing more maintenance more efficiently for more spouses and children remains to be seen. The absence of Legal Aid will reduce its efficacy. But even with Legal Aid the importance of the Act is not to be exaggerated. Maintenance proceedings provide just one of a number of mechanisms for helping to secure family incomes. Tn terms of the number of spouses and children actually benefitting recent changes in social welfare legislation have made a more significant contribution to the prob- lem of family maintenance than the new Act will ever do. The schemes for Deserted Wives' Allowances (introduced in 1970) and Benefits (1973), and for Un- married Mothers' Allowances (1973) are already con- tributing to the support of thousands of families (e.g. in April 1976 4,411 wives together with 6,360 depend- ents were in receipt of Deserted Wives' Allowances or Benefits), and when the Social Welfare (Supplement- ary Welfare Allowances) Act 1975 comes into oper- ation many more will be benefitting. To a small extent the large numbers in receipt of these allowances and benefits is a reflection of the past inadequacy of main- tenance proceedings legislation, but to a much greater extent it is a reflection of a simple economic fact — that where a marriage has broken down and a family unit has split up, the liable spouse or parent is often simply not earning enough to support two households.

Solicitors' Account (Amendment) Regulations 1976 S. I. No. 125 of 1976

Solicitors' Accounts (Amendment) Regulations 1976. The Incorporated Law Society of Ireland in exercise of the powers conferred on them by Sections 4, 5, 66 and 71 of the Solicitors Act 1954 and of every other power thereunto them enabling and with the concur- rence of the President of the High Court hereby make the following regulations. 1. These regulations may be cited as the Solicitors Accounts (Amendment) Regulations 1976, and shall be read together with the Solicitors' Accounts Regu- lations 1967 (S. I. No. 44 of 1967) (hereinafter called the Principal Regulations) and shall, to the extent to which they are inconsistent with the said regulations, alter and amend the same. 2. These regulations shall come into operation on the 17th day of J une, 1976. 3. The Principal Regulations shall be amended by the addition of the following Fourth Schedule. Fourth Schedule Any branch in Northern Ireland of a bank named in the first Schedule. (making the wrongdoer liable in debt) cannot offect the defaulter: he is already liable for his maintenance debts. And the criminal sanctions stipulated in s. 20(2) (up to £200 fine a n d / o r up to 6 months imprisonment) only apply to a case where the defaulter has made a false or misleading statement, not where he has made no statement at all. One element of the attachment procedure is likely to be a particular source of uncertainty. T he order served on the employer will specify two rates of de- duction, (a) the normal deduction rate (a rate sufficient in the Court's view to secure payment of the main- tenance order and to make up over a period of time any outstanding payments), and (b) the protected earn- ings rate (the rate below which, having regard to the resources and needs of the maintenance debtor, the Court thinks it proper that his earnings should not be reduced). The employer may not ma ke any deduction which would result in the debtor's income falling below the protected earnings rate. The uncertainty here lies in the fact that, beyond considerations of the debtor's needs and resources, the Court is given no guidance on how to determine an appropriate protected earnings rate. What exactly should the Court be aiming at? Should it aim at a figure which is reckoned to be suf- ficient to maintain the debtor at subsistence level? Should the figure aimed at be higher in the case of a person earning a large salary? Should the Cou rt ma ke use of external standards (e.g. the current rate of un- employment assistance) as guides? Section E: Conclusion Th e ma ny areas of discretion left to the Court by the new Act will pose familiar problems of prediction for the legal profession and their clients. But more im- 100 Post Office Savings Bank; Trustee Savings Banks; Agricultural Credit Corporation Ltd. First National City Bank; First National City Bank of Chicago; Algemene Bank Nederland (Ireland) Ltd.;