The Gazette 1979

DECEMBER 1979

of regulations, bye-laws, rules and orders in force. The

elimination of this omission together with the addition of a

periodic noter upper which could also cover statutory law

and relevant up-to-date case law would render this pub-

lication more valuable as a Court reference book, par-

ticularly if tables of statutes and case law were included as

is normal practice.

Mr. Woods's speed in attempting to satisfy the obvious

needs that have arisen for reliable guides in the main areas

of District Court practice may have resulted in the poor

final proof reading but the punctuation and spelling errors

contained are not so serious as to render unintelligible the

text.

It is to be hoped that in time this work will become as

of much benefit to the Republic of Ireland practitioner as

Wilkinson has to our colleagues in the United Kingdom.

John Hooper.

Correspondence

re:

CIVIL LIABILITY ACT, 1961

Dear Sir,

I wish to agree very strongly with Mr. John J. Madigan

in relation to his letter of the 20th November under the

above heading.

It is not alone in running down cases that this kind of

thing occurs. Personally I was involved i n a tragic

accident case in which a young man of eighteen years was

killed due to negligence in the course of work. Negligence

was not admitted until the day on which the case was for

hearing and we found it impossible to convince our client

of the fact that £1000 was the maximum payable in this

day and age for the loss of a dearly loved son in particu-

larly tragic circumstances and due to gross negligence.

In view of the fact of his age, possibility of marriage

etc., damages on the actuarial side were of course small

but the figure was an insult. The lady had suffered severe

trauma as a result of her son's death, the factthat only

£1000 could b e recovered was a n addition t o that

trauma.

Having regard to the fact that the act was passed in

1*961 surely the matter should be updated and where the

circumstances are out of the ordinary run of negligence

and the death i s due to gross negligence a higher sum

should be payable than the ordinary run of negligence

case. At the very minimum the overall figure should be

increased t o £10,000 and this should be given auto-

matically with a limited amount left to the jury t o be

awarded in particularly bad cases of negligence.

Yours faithfully,

Daniel D. Shields.

Main Street,

Loughrea,

Co. Galway.

3 January 1980.

re:

SOLICITORS' REMUNERATION

Dear Sir,

According t o the recent Summary o f Developments

herein, the Society and its Officers have made strenuous

efforts, a t least since September 1974, t o rationalise

216

income t o the profession. I t i s obvious that al l their

reasonable endeavours are being met with delaying and

frustrating measures by certain Governmental Bodies.

The unfair treatment meted out to the profession

especially when compared with that experienced by the

non-professional branches of society — can only induce

counter (legitimate) measures by the more independent

members of the profession, outside the province of others.

As intimated by the undersigned at the last AGM of

the Society, i t i s appropriate that a special meeting of

members b e called t o consider i f another means o f

remuneration should he adopted to by-pass the present

cumbersome, expensive and outmoded system of detailed

charges. I t i s possible that a revision o f scale charges

might also he sought more in keeping with the current

economic trends, an d more fairly equaled t o other

comparative bodies and factors.

Legal Consultative Council — a loose association of

Barristers and Solicitors — has taken this initiative t o

ascertain th e preliminary views o f members. I f

encouraging, it is proposed convening a meeting, within

the next two months. Interested members should contact

the undersigned.

Yours sincerely,

T. C. Gerard O'Mahony,

Chairman Legal Consultative Council.

22 Merrion Square,

Dublin 2 .

10th December, 1979.

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