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Estimates for Department of Justice
MINISTER'S SPEECH IN DÁIL ÉIREANN
1972
Mr. O'Malley: My Department, among its other
activities, is engaged in an extensive programme of law
reform. In the ten years since the programme was
launched, substantial progress has been made as is
evidenced by the law reform measures which have
already reached the Statute Book. Of its nature, law
reform is a long-term project involving the giving of
priority to certain items. Various practical consider-
ations affect the rate of progress—in particular, the
limited number of skilled staff available for this work.
The house dealt last year with two Law Reform
measures, namely, the Courts Act, 1971, and the Land-
lord and Tenant (Amendment) Act, 1971. The first of
these provides for increases in the civil jurisdiction of
the Circuit and District Courts and deals with a number
of other important matters relating to the functions and
operation of the courts. The other Act deals with a
number of urgent matters in the field of landlord and
tenant law including a grant of a new type of lease to
sports organisations in certain circumstances. Incident-
ally, this latter Act is an interim measure which will be
absorbed into a comprehensive Landlord and Tenant
Bill now being prepared.
Among the law reform measures in various stages of
preparation are (1) a Charities Bill to make new provi-
sion for the incorporation of charity trustees, to make
special provision in relation to charities that are
governed by Private Acts of Parliament or by Charters
and to amend the Charities Act, 1961, in certain
respect; (2) a Criminal Injuries Bill which will consoli-
date, amend and reform the law relating to malicious or
criminal injuries to property or to the person; (3) the
comprehensive Landlord and Tenant Bill which I have
already referred to; (4) a Court and Court Officers Bill
which will contain provisions to implement recom-
mendations made in the sixteenth interim report of the
Committee on Court Practice and Procedure in relation
to the jurisdiction of the Master of the High Court and
will include a number of other important provisions
relating to the Courts and Court Officers; and (5) a
Registry of Deeds Bill. Other legislative proposals which
are being prepared include (6) Bills to provide for the
enforcement of foreign judgments and maintenance
orders and recommendations and (7) a Bll to deal with
the jury system, a subject on which recommendations
have been received from the Committee on Court Prac-
tice and Procedure.
Hie Committee on Court Practice and Procedure.
They have submitted 17 interim reports up to the
present.
The first of these reports dealt with the procedure
for the preliminary investigation of indictable offences
and legislation based on the report has been enacted,
namely, the Criminal Procedure Act, 1967. Another of
the reports dealt with the question of increased jurisdic-
tion for the Circuit and District Courts and this, as I
mentioned a moment ago, is a matter that has been
provided for in the Courts Act, 1971.
The jury system forms the subject-matter of three
interim reports of the committee and, arising out of the
recommendations contained in these three reports, legis-
lative proposals relating to the jury system are at
present under consideration. One of the committee's
reports deals with the criminal jurisdiction of the High
Court and another with appeals from conviction on
indictment. 1 am having the committee's recommend-
ations in these reports examined and I hope to introduce
amending legislation in due course.
Further reports of the committee deal with (1) the
service of court documents by post, (2) the fees of pro-
fessional witnesses, (3) proof of previous convictions,
(4) the interest rate on judgment debts, (5) the jurisdic-
tion and practice of the Supreme Court, (6) the organi-
sation of the courts, (7) the rights of audience of
solicitors in the courts, (8) the liability of barristers for
professional negligence and (9) the extension of the
"on-the-spot" system to offences other than parking
offences. Provision has been made in the Courts Act,
1971, for an extension of the registered post mode of
service of documents of the superior courts and for a
right of audience for solicitors in all our courts.
The Government authorised me to arrange for the
implementation of the committee's recommendations
in regard to fees of profesional witnesses, and new rules
of court in this regard, in which 1 have concurred, were
made by the Superior Courts Rules Committee. The
remain
:
ng matters dealt with in the reports of the
Committee on Court Practice and Procedure are being
examined.
The Landlord and Tenant Commission
The Landlord and Tenant Commission have so far
presented two reports dealing with specific issues. Their
first report deals with the renewal of occupational
tenancies under the 1931 Landlord and Tenant Act.
The second report deals with extensions of the rights
of renewal and of outright purchase given by the Land-
lord and Tenant Acts from 1931 to 1967 and enjoyed
by what may be called ground tenants. It covers,
inter alia,
the renewal of the tenancies of sports clubs
in certain circumstances. I have already mentioned the
Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act, 1971. This
is the first instalment of legislation which arises from
the recommendations of the commission. All the recom-
mendations made by the commission have been accepted
by the Government subject only to relatively minor
amendments. The acceptance involves the promotion of
legislation to make considerable changes in the Landlord
and Tenant Acts of 1931, 1958 and 1967. These
changes will be embodied in a comprehensive Bill
which has already been introduced as the Landlord and
Tenant Bill, 1970. This will be a complicated piece of
legislation involving the amendment of the Acts of 1931,
1958 and 1967 and their consolidation with the Act of
1971. It will be recalled that owing to the complexity
of the Bill, I decided that it was necessary to abstract
from it the more urgently-needed provisions and to
introduce them as a separate Bill. That separate Bill
was since enacted as the Landlord and Tenant (Amend-
ment) Act, 1971. The text of the comprehensive Bill is
now being settled and it will be circulated as soon as
possible—I hope before the summer recess. After pre-
senting their first two reports, the commission com-
menced their main work, that is, a review of the whole
law of landlord and tenant, apart from questions bearing
on the scope and policy of rent control. This review
involves an examination of the Landlord and Tenant
Act of 1860, commonly known as Deasy's Act.
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