The Gazette 1908-9

The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.

[JUNK, 1908

MR. FRY : When I sit down, I don't think

you will consider I have sprang anything on

anybody.

MR. FRY : The newspapers have recently

published a provisional list of the names of

Dublin Senators proposed in connexion with

the University intended to be established in

this city; but an examination of this list shows

that although it includes no less than eleven

members of the medical profession, the only

representatives of the legal profession are two

of the Judges of the High Court, who, being

also Benchers of the King's Inns, will be

representative of the interests of law students

seeking call to the Bar in Ireland. The list,

however, does not contain the name of a single

solicitor who is a member of the Incorporated

Law Society.

If we turn to the Belfast list of

Senators, what do we find ?

It also contains

the names of two Judges ; but, with the single

exception of the President of the Chamber of

Commerce, in his

ex-officio

capacity, and one

other, a temporary member as a benefactor,

no solicitor is proposed to hold office, and it

is a mere accident that a member of our pro–

fession should happen to be President of the

Chamber of Commerce that we find our pro–

fession thus noticed.

I need not remind you

that the functions of this Incorporated Law

Society are, to a large extent, educational.

it is vested by statute the entire direction of

the education of those seeking to join the

solicitors' profession in Ireland.

It is provided

by section 7 of the Solicitors (Ireland) Act,

1898, that it shall be lawful for the Society to

provide classes, lectures, and other teachings

to persons apprenticed to solicitors, and for

this purpose to appoint professors and lec–

turers ; and by section 8 the Society is bound

to hold at least three times in every year a

preliminary examination, an intermediate exa–

mination, and a final examination ; and the Act

provides that the Society shall have the entire

management and control of all such examina–

tions, and shall have power to make regulations

with

respect

several other educational

matters. Further, I would remind you that

sections 12 and 14 of the same Act shorten the

usual term of apprenticeship in the cases of

persons who take the degrees of Bachelor of

Arts or Bachelor of Laws in certain named

universities, including, you will remember, the

Royal University of Ireland, which the Bill

now before Parliament proposes to extinguish.

I gather from a perusal of the Irish Universities

Bill that it does not propose to extend these

privileges to graduates of the new universities ;

but no doubt at a later stage, when attention

is directed to this matter, steps will be taken

to effect this extension. By section 17 of the

Solicitors (Ireland) Act, 1898, to which I have

referred, exemptions from the solicitors' pre–

liminary examination are enacted in the case

of students passing certain examinations in the

Universities named in that section, including

the Royal University of Ireland. This section

provides that the exemption may be extended

by regulations made under the Solicitors Act

to persons who pass the examination in any

other University specified in the regulations.

In the same way section 8 (F) of the same Act

enables the Society to make regulations exempt–

ing students who have obtained the degree of

Bachelor of Laws at any University in the

United Kingdom. Doubtless at a later date

application will be made to the Incorporated

Law Society to extend these exemptions from

the preliminary and intermediate examinations

to students and graduates of the new Univer–

sities ; and I think I am not putting the matter

too high when I say that the Incorporated Law

Society of Ireland as an educational body will be

largely concerned and interested in the success

of the new Universities in Dublin and Belfast;

and it will undoubtedly be the duty of the

Society to encourage as far as possible those

seeking to join the solicitors' profession to

pass through these Universities, and obtain

their Arts and Legal degrees. There is no

doubt that we, as a profession anxious to main–

tain a high standard in the members to join

our ranks, are very much interested in seeing

that all the students who attend our classes,

and who are preparing for our profession,

should be well educated. This seems to me

an opportunity for asserting our claim for re–

presentation on the Senates of the Universities,

which should not be overlooked, the more

especially as the Faculty of Law in the new

Dublin University will have

to be newly

created. All of you may not be aware that the

Incorporated Law Society of England have two

representatives of the Society on the Senate

of the University of London, one representa–

tive of

the Society on

the Court of the

University of Liverpool, two representatives

of the Society upon the Court of Governors

of the University College of North Wales, and

two representatives on the Board of Governors

of Hartley College, Southampton.

I have

ventured to prepare a resolution, which, with

the permission of this meeting, I would pro–

pose should be passed to-day, and I trust

passed unanimously.

If it is, I think we all