226 / 262
tor. His expenses and those of his assistants should be
borne by bankrupt's estates. It should be a misde-
meanour to obstruct an auctioneer appointed by the
Minister or the Court or the Inspector or his assistant.
No provision for payment to the Inspector of a percen-
tage of the amount realised by the sale of a bank-
rupt's goods and chattels should be made.
Chapter 53: Auxiliary
Provisions—
Major
Recommen-
dations
The auxiliary provisions or order in aid section
should not alone be retained but extended to other
countries, as evidenced by the following :
(1)
Avant-projet de convention
relative á la faillite,
aux concordats et aux procedures analogues.
(2)
Rapport sur la convention
relative á la faillite,
aux concordats et aux procedures analogues.
Rather than delay presentation of the Report we
decided not to await an English translation which was
not immediately available nor to work on the French
version, which of necessity would be slow.
Chapter 54: Rule Making
Authority—
Major
Recom-
mendations
A separate and independent Rule Making Authority
should be established to deal with bankruptcy matters.
Chapter 55: Preferential
Payments—
Major
Recom-
mendations
Preferential payments of all kinds should be abol-
ished.
Chapter 56: Returns to
Parliament—
Major
Recom-
mendations
Both the annual return to Dail Eireann and the half-
yearly return to the Examiner should be abolished.
Chapter 57: Second or subsequent Bankruptcies—
Major
Recommendations
Creditors in second and subsequent bankruptcies
should have priority in those bankruptcies.
Chapter 58: Bankruptcy of Solicitors and Auctioneers
—Major
Recommendations
Changes recommended either under (1) the Solicitors
Act
1954,
Sections
34, 51, 61
and
69; (2)
the Solicitors
Act
1960,
Sections
21
and
32;
and
(3)
the Auctioneers
and House Agents Act
1967,
Sections
5, 11, 14
and
15.
No change recommended.
Chapter 59: Doctrine of Relation
Back—
Major
Recom-
mendation
The doctrine of relation back should be abolished.
Certain transactions by a debtor within three months
of adjudication should, however, be void against the
Official Assignee.
Chapter 60: Married
Women—
Major
Recommenda-
tions
It is recommended that husband and wife can claim
against each other as if they were not married.
Chapter 61: Reputed
Ownership—
Major
Recommen-
dations
The reputed ownership or order and disposition
clausc should not be re-enacted.
Chapter 62
The Trustee Clauses contained in Sections
87-122
of the Bankruptcy Ireland Amendment Act
1872
should
not be re-enacted.
Chapter 63: Wards of
Court—
Major
Recommenda-
tions
As
regards persons of unsound mind the Committee
state that no special legislation is necessary to deal with
the case of a bankrupt becoming a person of unsound
mind. On the other hand, if an infant under twenty-one
is liable at law in respect of any debt or obligation, he
should be liable to be adjudicated a bankrupt and to
obtain the protection of the Court.
The draft Bankruptcy Bill set out in Appendix D
contains
174
sections and
2
schedules. The draft Bank-
ruptcy Rules set out in Appendix E contains
37
sections
divided into
124
rules and in addition there are
51
forms.
Finance seen as the crux for repair
of courthouse
Readers may recall a similar direction to the' then
Minister for Justice made by Mr. Justice Henchy in
respect of Drogheda Courthouse in October
1971.
A further order was made in that case in April
1972
recommending the Minister to contact the Minister for
Finance with a view to getting the Commissioner for
Public Works to carry out the repairs.
This is a liaison envisaged by Section 6 (1) (a) of the
Courthouses (Provision and Maintenance) Act,
1935,
which places on local authorities the responsibility for
the upkeep of courthouses.
It is by now notorious that very many of our court-
houses, and in particular district courthouses, are in a
deplorable state of disrepair. Drogheda and Waterford
were only two outstanding examples.
The problem is finance : local authorities are natur-
ally reluctant to spend money on the upkeep of a
courtroom which will be in use for relatively few days in
the year.
The Twelfth Interim Report of the Committee on
Court Practice and Procedure averted to this situation
and their report includes the following recommenda-
tion : "We are of opinion that so far as is possible
courtrooms outside Dublin which are only in periodic
use should be so designed as to be capable of being used
for other community activities when the court is not
actually in session."
The report also recommends that local authorities be
relieved of the expense of providing and maintaining
accommodation which is used only for the purpose of
court work but should bear a share of the expense
involved in providing dual purpose accommodation.
Irish Independent
(24
July
1973)
223