15 / 110
JUNE, 1912]
The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.
13
Mr. Birrell informs me that he has not
yet heard from the County Court Judges
in reference to the County Courts Bill.
We have reason
to believe
that
the
deliberations of the County Court Judges
are nearly at an ^end, if they have not
concluded, and that|twe will hear from
them shortly. Under^these circumstances
I think it wellj to^show you we were not
losing sight of the matter, and that we are
trying Lto do ^something
to
induce
the
Government to remedy the existing County
Court procedure. As you all know now what
has been done, I leave it to Mr. Craig to say
whether he now should proceed with his
motion or allow it
to stand over for the
present.
It might be well to allow us to
proceed as we are at present, and let us get
the report from the County Court Judges.
If, then, it be necessary to call a meeting
we won't hesitate to do so.
MR. T. H. R. CRAIG said he was in many
respects very much indebted to the President
for having said what he himself intended to
have said in moving his motion. He thought
the facts disclosed in the correspondence
entirely justified the motion that he wished
to
bring
forward
to-day
(hear,
hear).
Whether the meeting would accept his motion
or not was for the meeting to say, and if the
meeting, having regard to what had been
stated, desired to adjourn the further con–
sideration of
the matter, .he was quite
satisfied. He felt it his duty, however, to
bring forward his motion, and leave it to the
general body of the profession to say whether
they approved of it or not.
It had been
suggested that this was a matter which had
been pushed by Dublin practitioners, or what
he might call Dublin practitioners, because
they
happen
to
live
in Dublin,
and
practise in the County Court. He thought
the men who practised in the Recorder's
Court in Dublin were just as much County
Court practitioners and as much interested
in the matter as
if
they practised
in
the wilds of Donegal (hear, hear). At the
last meeting, held on the 2nd of January, he
explained the reason why he brought forward
this matter was because it was a matter of
public importance and not a matter that
affected the profession only (hear, hear).
He stated that the debts recovered in the
County Courts
in
Ireland amounted
to
£600,000 a year, or £100,000 more than was
recovered by common law actions in the High
Court of Justice (hear, hear). Was it to be
said that this was not a matter of urgent
importance and a matter worth the appoint–
ing of a Commission to see what the position
had been for years, what the defects were,
and what improvements might be effected in
procedure ?
The President told them that
the resolution passed by the Society calling
for
a Commission, was
forwarded
to
the Chief
Secretary and
acknowledged
within ^three
days.
Then,
apparently,
whoever
had
charge
of
the matter
went asleep, because they heard nothing
of
it again until Mr. Brady, as one of
the members of the Council, had to go
and stir up the Chief Secretary on the 20th
of February. Apparently the question had
been pigeon-holed in the Irish Office for six
weeks and was forgotten, although it was a
matter of recovering £600,000 a year in
Ireland. Mr. Birrell wrote on 2nd March
that he had consulted his advisers in Dublin,
but they did not seem to have given him
very much more advice than he had already.
He (Mr. Craig) presumed that when they
considered the Bill in 1911 the County Court
Judges brought all the matters forward.
Had
the Recorders
been
consulted
in
reference
to
these matters ?
Had
the
Recorder of Dublin been consulted with
reference to it, in whose Court nearly 7,000
civil bills were disposed of in the year ?
Why wasn't he consulted as to what the
improvements and amendments ought to be ?
After what had taken place, matters were
now apparently in exactly the same position
as
they were, and probably they would
remain so for some time. He did not suggest,
and he was prepared to amend his motion lest
it should be thought that he meant that the
County Court Judges were not competent to
go into this matter (hear, hear). He thought
that the County Court Judges were quite com–
petent to deal with the matter, but they did
not want them to make their report when
they were all dead and gone (hear, hear).
They wanted the report now at once, so that
it could be dealt with
in
the present
Parliament, and in a Bill brought in before
the long vacation.
If the matter was left in
the position in which it was now there would
be nothing done till next year. Why could