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between three years and three years and a day cannot nor-
mally make much difference to a defendant; it may be d
:
sas-
trous to a plaintiff".
Pritman Kaur v. S. Russell & Sons Ltd.; C.A.; 12/12/1972.
Tax
Before Lord Justice Davies, Lord Justice Stamp and Lord
Justice Orr.
[Judgment delivered November 9th]
The appropr'ate amount of tax to be deducted under the
Gourley
rule was considered by their Lordships when they
allowed an appeal by the plaintiffs, Lyndale Fashion Manu-
facturers, of Margaret Street, W. from a decision of Judge
Leslie at Bloomsbury and St. Marylebone County Court that
£495 damages awarded to Mr. Max Rich, a traveling sales-
man employed on commission who was dismissed by them in
September, 1967, should be reduced by £42 for income tax.
Lyndale Fashion Manufacturers v. Rich; 14/11/1972; C.A.
Before Mr. Justice Goff.
An allowance pa d to a retiring partner by the continuing
partners in a firm of chartered accountants was held not
to be income immediately derived from the carrying on of the
retiring partner's profession. His Lordship dismissed an appeal
by Mr. Richard Graham Pegler from a decision of the general
commissioners that earned income relief was not deductible
for assessing the amount of tax payable on the a/lowance.
Pegler v. Abell; 15/11/72; Ch.D.
Trade Disputes
Before Lord Reid, Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest, Lord Hod-
son, Lord Simon of Glaisdale and Lord Cross of Chelsea.
A demarcation dispute between the National Dock Labour
Board and the British Steel Corporation was settled by the
House of Lords when they decided how much of the work
of moving iron ore from the holds of ships lying at the jetty
in the newly constructed harbour at Port Talbot to the cor-
porat'on's neighbouring stock yard was work which only regis-
tered dock workers could lawfully be employed to perform.
National Dock Labour Board v. British Steel Corporation;
House of Lords; 13/12/1972.
Trade Descriptions Act
Before Lord Widgery, the Lord Chief Justice, Mr. Justice
Ashworth and Mr. Justice W llis.
"Recklessly" in section 14(1) of the Trade Descriptions Act,
1968, in relation to an advertisement means that the advertiser
did not have regard to the truth or fals'ty of his advertisement
even though it canot be shown that he was deliberately
closing his eyes to the truth, or that he had any kind of
dishonest mind. It is not necessary to prove that the staement
was made with that degree of irresponsibility which is implied
in the phrase "careless whether it be true or false."
MFI Warehouses Ltd. v. Nattrass; Q.B.D.; 22/12/1972.
EUROPEAN SECTION
E.E.C. Laws may force big policy
changes on private Irish firms
One of the most serious and difficult legal problems
facing Irish businessmen in the E.E.C. was whether
Irish private companies were to be required to have a
minimum paid up capital of £1,600, Mr. John Temple
Lang, lecturer in Company Law in Trinity College told
a meeting of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries in
Dublin last night.
This would be necessary if the E.E.C. treated Irish
public and private companies as the same type of legal
body. Between one quarter and one half of all Irish
companies would be affected.
Publication of Accounts
Another important change would be that all Irish
private companies would be required to publish their
accounts. This would mean that creditors and com-
petitors could see how profitable Irish private com-
panies are, and trade unions would be able to judge how
far private companies could afford to meet claims for
increased wages. Shareholders could compare the profit-
ability of different private companies. A large number
of takeovers of companies which were relatively un-
profitable were likely to result from disclosure of these
accounts, Mr. Temple Lang said.
In the longer term the E.E.C. was also likely to
require larger companies to have a two-level manage-
ment consisting of an executive and a supervisory
board. Mr. Temple Lang, author of a book on the
legal aspects of the E.E.C. for Ireland, said that part
of the E.E.C. thinking was that the employees of the
company concerned would appoint one third of the
members of the supervisory board, who would take part
in the management of the company. This would be in
addition to works councils who, under the regulation
on the proposed new European "federal" type of com-
pany would have a veto on decisions on the principles
of recruitment, promotion and dismissal, principles and
methods of pay, working hours and so on. The regula-
tion would also require the works council in each
"European" company to be consulted on closures, long
term arrangements for co-operation with other com-
panies, and other important changes in companies'
activities.
Democratic Discus ion
Mr. Temple Lang said it was extremely important
that all these changes should be thoroughly discussed in
advance in Ireland. He suggested that it was essential
that an Oireachtas committee on draft E.E.C. laws
should be set up at once. It was deplorable, he said,
that the Government had chosen to suit its own con-
venience by carrying out E.E.C. requirements by Minis-
terial order and not by legislation after proper demo-
cratic debate. Discussion of draft E.E.C. laws by lawyers
and other experts on a technical level "was not a sub-
stitute for public democratic discussion."
{The Irish Times,
17/11/1972.)
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