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for which the public are the sufferers, and which
could easily be resolved by a short amending Act
or, if necessary, by Emergency Powers Order.
A Notice of Motion for discussion at the
meeting has been received suggesting that the
Society should urge on the Minister for Justice
the necessity for the setting up of a permanent
Law Reform Committee, consisting of members of
the legal profession, with a view to having the
many anomalies and archaic rules in our laws
removed or revised.
I presume that this Notice
of Motion has been sent in as a result of the
remarks I made at our half-yearly meeting in May.
On that occasion I referred briefly to this matter
which requires the attention of the members of
both branches of our profession, and the public
generally, and suggested the setting up by the
legislature of a Commission or Commissions to
enquire into the reform of the laws. It would not
be possible within the time at my disposal, to
deal with this matter at any length. For all
purposes it is possible to divide the subject of
legal reform into certain divisions, some of which
require immediate attention. For instance, the
law affecting companies in this country is now
completely out of date. We are governed here
by the Companies' Act, 1908, and although
there has been a call from all parties concerned
for the amendment and complete codification of
the laws affecting companies, nothing has been
done. These laws have received close and careful
attention in Great Britain, and have been brought
up-to-date.
A Commission was appointed to
enquire into and report on the Bankruptcy laws.
Although the Commission reported and made
recommendations, no action has yet been taken
which would bring the Bankruptcy laws into line
with modern conditions. There is a very urgent
demand for the repeal of laws affecting charities,
all of which laws are relics of the penal days, and
many of these laws are treated now as being dead
letters and of no effect.
The descent of Real
Property and also succession to intestate estates
require very careful attention, reviewing and
amendment. Then we have the case of the unjust
will, by which a man may leave his wife and family
penniless. There are many other branches of law
in this country which require careful consideration,
with a view to bringing them up to date,
and bringing them into line with the requirements
of the people of this country. All this is a matter
of very considerable labour and one which it
would almost be impossible to entrust to one
Commission. There has been for some time in
various articles in the Press, a demand for the
codification of our laws.
This is a somewhat
different matter than that to which I am referring,
which is not a codification, but a reform and
amendment of laws unsuitable to the country,
and particularly unsuitable to modern conditions.
As a result of the remarks I made at our last
meeting, correspondence took place between the
Secretary and the Department of Justice. The
Secretary of the Department suggested in corres
pondence that the Rule-making Authority of the
Supreme Court, of which the President of this
Society is an ex-officio member had full authority
under -Section 75 of the Courts of Justice Act,
1936, to consider the matter and make suggestions.
I requested the Secretary to reply to the letter
and point out that the work involved was so
considerable that it would be a very unreasonable
and unfair burden to place on such a Committee
which consists of the Chief Justice, President of
the High Court, Judges of the Supreme Court and
High Court, representatives of the Bar and the
President of this Society. The only manner in
which this matter could be dealt with in a reason
able way would be as suggested in the Notice of
Motion by the setting up of a Commission or
Commissions to be presided over by a judge or
other experienced
lawyer, and to consist of
members of both branches of the profession,
representatives of the business community, of
the Trades Unions and of the appropriate Gov
ernment Departments. As I pointed out, it might
be necessary in considering a. matter of this
importance that a number of such Commissions
should be set up and, in fact, it might be desirable
that it would be kept, for a time at least, in
permanent session, and that they would be in
a position to submit
ad interim
reports which
should be at once available to the parliamentary
draughtsmen to prepare the necessary legislation.
There is nothing political in this matter and there
should be no difficulty in having the necessary
amended acts enacted without delay.
I feel
certain that all the members are in agreement on
the necessity of such reform, and while I know
there is a conservative opinion that this may not
be our business, I do feel that a Society such as
ours should give a direct lead and should make
its opinions felt.
I am certain that if such a
Commission or Commissions be set up every
member of our profession will give all the assist
ance in his power to enable the work of the Com
mission or Commissions to be completed in as
short a time as possible.
It may be appropriate
to offer a criticism of the method adopted in
passing recent legislation, in fact, a method that
has been followed for some years, by which, in
various Acts of the Oireachtas, existing legislation
39