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GAZETTE
APRIL 1989
Applicant passed the final
examination - first part.
10. A Declaration that the Appli-
cant is entitled to admission to
the Law School for the next
course.
The grounds on which the
Applicant relied as entitling him to
this relief were detailed in his
original and amended Statement.
Grounds of opposition were filed by
the Society on the 7th September
1987 and amended grounds on the
4th December 1987. It is un-
necessary to set out any of the
grounds in full as by Order of the
President of the High Court made
by Consent on the 2nd March 1988
the issues to be tried were settled
and the case was adjourned for
plenary hearing on oral evidence.
These issues were originally eight
in number but when the matter
came before me it was agreed by
the parties that five only had to be
determined. These were:
1. Did the Respondents limit to
150 the number of places to
be awarded to candidates who
sat the final examination -
first part in or about the month
of November 1986?
2. If so, is it
ultra vires
the powers
of the Respondents to so limit
the number of places available
at its Law School?
3. Is it lawful for the Respond-
ents to require as a standard to
be attained in the final
examination - first part held
in November 1986 a pass
mark of 50% in each of the
five subjects, Law of Contract,
Law of Tort, Law of Real
Property, Constitutional Law
and Company Law, and in the
case of a candidate failing to
achieve that standard in not
more than two subjects, an
aggregate pass mark of 250
marks in these five subjects?
4. Did the Applicant as a matter
of fact know that 50% was
the pass standard set for the
said examination in 1986
before he sat the said
examination?
5. Are the Respondents com-
pellable in law to consider the
Applicant as having achieved
a satisfactory standard on the
marks actually received by him
in the said examination?
Most of these issues are con-
cerned with the system of entry to
the Society's Law School, so
before embarking on their
determination it is necessary to set
out first how that system came into
being and how it operated between
its inception and 1986.
The Society's Law School was
set up in 1978. Prior to that there
had been discussions about it
between the Society and the Law
Schools of the National University
and of Trinity College. It had been
envisaged that an Apprentice with
a Degree in Law from any of these
Universities would be exempt from
the final examination - first part
which an Apprentice would other-
wise have to pass in order to gain
entrance to the Law School. This is
reflected in paragraph 12(1) of the
explanatory note to the Solicitors
Act, 1954 (Apprenticeship and
Education) (Amendment No. 1)
Regulations, 1974 (Statutory
Instrument Number 138 of 1974)
which is as follows:
"Applicant with Law Degree
Subject to passing the Statutory
First Irish Examination and
obtaining a master, the applicant
will be allowed to commence the
three year apprenticeship and
will be given an exemption from
the Society's First Law
Examination (new form)".
And Regulation No. 17 of the
Solicitors Acts, 1954 and 1960
(Apprenticeship and Education)
Regulations 1975 (Statutory Instru-
ment No. 66 of 1975) to which I
shall refer as "the 1975 Regula-
tions" expressly gives the Com-
mittee a discretion to exempt in
whole or in part from the final
examination - first part "an
apprentice who holds or is entitled
to hold a degree in law of a
recognised university in Ireland".
During the course of 1976 it
emerged that the numbers
attending the new Law School
each year would have to be limited
to 150. Blackhall Place could not
handle more than 75 students at a
time, and with two professional
courses being held every year, this
meant that the yearly intake of
students could not exceed 150.
The question which then had to be
considered was that raised by Mr.
Maurice Curran, the Chairman of
the Committee at the time, in a
Memorandum prepared for the
Council dated the 24th February
1977:
"How are we to decide who
obtains entrance to the limited
number of places in the new Law
School?"
A variety of suggestions was
considered and that ultimately
adopted, notwithstanding strong
opposition from the Universities,
was that it should be decided by
examination. Accordingly, starting
in 1978, an examination known as
the final examination - first part has
been held in November of each year.
No problem arose initially as the
numbers seeking entrance to the
Law School were small. But
between 1981 and 1984 the
numbers sitting the examination
rose from 172 in 1981 to 391 in
1984. One of the consequences of
this was that the examination
became a competitive examination.
And this appears to have been
acknowledged by the Society. In its
booklet "How to become a
Solicitor" (June 1985 edition), it is
stated on page 5 in regard to the
final examination - first part
"candidates compete for 150
places". And in the syllabus for the
1986 examination, paragraph 2 of
the notes on the examination states
that "150 places in the Society's
Law School are awarded annually
on the basis of overall performance
in the five subjects other than
Criminal Law, although a satis-
factory standard must be achieved
in each subject including Criminal
Law before any candidate will be
awarded a place". Finally, the
following statements appear in the
Minutes of a meeting held on the
10th April 1978 between members
of the Committee and represen-
tatives of the four University Law
Schools:
"The Society was firm that the
annual quota would not exceed
150.
The final examination - First
Part. The Society stated that it
had taken decisions on the
following points: (iv) That the
competitive examination would
therefore be based on five
subjects i.e. Torts, Contract, Real
Property, Constitutional Law and
Company Law".
The pass standard adopted by
the Society was 50%. This appears
from the Minutes of a meeting of
the Committee held on the 1st
March 1976 when the following
standards were agreed:
Pass 50%
First Class Honours 70% with a
minimum of 60 in each subject.
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