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EDITORIAL
The Bankruptcy Law Report
The Report of the Bankruptcy Law Committee, under
the chairmanship of Mr. Justice Budd, was recently
published, and the major recommendations have been
inserted elsewhere in this issue. It is indeed high time
that the old Acts of 1857 and of 1872 should be
repealed, and the Committee have drafted a compre-
hensive new Bill which incorporates their recommen-
dations. It will be seen that the Official Assignee will
henceforth be invested with all necessary powers in
connection with a bankrupt's property. The Committee
have also drafted rules incorporating the more modern
ideas of bankruptcy procedure; if their full recommen-
dations with regard to the draft Bill and to the Rules
are adopted, which seems likely, then we will soon have
an up-to-date bankruptcy code. The Committee is to be
congratulated for having given us a useful historical
analysis, and for the learning and erudition displayed
in the report.
The Irish Penal System
A most useful volume on this subject is to be published
by the Prison Study Group comprising at least three
lawyers, under the auspices of the Department of
Proceedings of the
20th SEPTEMBER 1973
The President in the chair, also present: Messrs W.
B. Allen, Walter Beatty, Bruce St. J. Blake, John F.
Buckley, John Carrigan, Laurence Cullen, Gerard M.
Doyle, Joseph L. Dundon, James R. C. Green, Michael
P. Houlihan, Thomas Jackson, John B. Jermyn, Francis
J. Lanigan, John Maher, Patrick C. Moore, Patrick
McEllin, Patrick McEntee, Brendan A. McGrath, John
J. Nash, George A. Nolan, Patrick Noonan, John C.
O'Carroll, Peter E. O'Connell, Dermot G. O'Donovan,
William A. Osborne, Peter D. M. Prentice, Mrs Moya
Quinlan and Ralph J. Walker.
Members taking an assignment against their own client
Members wrote stating they had acted for a client in
a High Court action in which judgment was given
against their client. They were then instructed to pay
the debt in order to secure the release of certain prop-
erty of the client. They duly paid the debt out of money
provided by the client. The solicitor on the other side
then raised the question of his costs and refused to
release the property unless he was paid his costs. Mem-
bers then gave an undertaking to discharge costs where
taxed. Their client refused to indemnify members and
when called upon members had no alternative but to
discharge the costs out of their own pocket. To secure
their rights against their own client members took an
assignment from the plaintiff to the amount of costs
Psychiatry, U.C.D. The authors prove conclusively that
the Irish prison system is antiquated, and is based on
punishment rather than reform. "The education of
prisoners had never been taken seriously in Irish
prisons, and no attempt was being made to teach pris-
oners anything to help them to get employment on
release. Although a daily sum of £8.87 is spent on each
prisoner, there is little to show for it; the average
prisoner is a product of the slums of the cities, usually
from a family where unemployment is rife; they spend
fifteen hours per day in their cells." There is not even a
library service in Mountjoy, although there is one in
Portlaoise; there is no doubt but that the personnel of
the Visiting Committees, who have power to inflict
punishment, is most unsatisfactory, and requires to be
radically altered.
When the Minister announced recently the appoint-
ment of a Director of Health and of a Director of
Studies for Prisons, he was only carrying out the mini-
mum reform necessary in the circumstances, but it is
astounding that he did not grant this learned group full
facilities to inspect prisons in detail; much of the evid-
ence which they have adduced has inevitably come
from Prison Reports.
This is a vital study of current prison conditions in
Ireland which deserves a wide circulation.
Council
which they had paid on foot of their own undertaking.
They now want to apply for an execution order as
assignee of the plaintiffs under Order 42, Rule 24, of
the Superior Court Rules (alternatively they could pre-
sumably sue their client for indemnity on the basis of
money paid on his behalf). The Council upon a report
from a committee submitted that member had not
acted unprofessionally in the circumstances. It is, how-
ever, a matter for the Court as to whether such an
assignment is enforceable against the client.
Counsels' fees in the Circuit Court
Members wrote concerning the difference between
counsels' fees in Circuit Court matters as prescribed by
the Bar Council and by the Circuit Court Rules. The
Council were informed that some Circuit Court judges
allow the scale of fees prescribed by the Bar Council to
a successful litigant. The Council decided that they
should endeavour (a) to meet with representatives of the
Bar Council and (b) to recommend to the Bar Council
that they approach the President of the Circuit Court.
The Council felt there was no further action available
to them.
Member bound by undertaking though not aware of
full circumstances
Members wrote stating they acted for a British client
who hired a car in the name of a lady whom he de-
THE SOCIETY
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