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We certainly do
not
want the practice of Common
Market law in this country to be usurped by foreign
lawyers; but it will be, if our own practitioners are not
themselves properly equipped to provide solutions for
Irish businessmen to EEC problems; businessmen and
others who would otherwise unhesitantly call in British
or continental experts. To quote the present Minister
for Justice, in his address at the annual dinner of the
Council of the Incorporated Law Society,
"When we become members of the Community"
(i.e. the EEC) "we will find ourselves an
integral part of an entity domineered by civil
law concepts, procedures and modes of thought.
If this country is to play its full part in the
Community, our lawyers and law teachers will
have to become thoroughly familiar with the
form, substance and spirit of systems of law and
legal institutione other than their own. More-
over, a knowledge of continental languages,
especially French and German, will be of con-
siderable importance."
(It should be noted that, at its session of 16th to
20th November, 1970, the European Parliament re-
jected a resolution concerning a proposed directive on
freedom to supply services for certain activities of
lawyers—See Bulletin of the European Communities,
1971, Vol. 4, p.121)
Ormrod Committee Report
The Report of the Committee on Legal Education
in England presided over by Mr. Justice Ormrod,
advocates
inter alia
that:
(1) Academic and vocational legal training should
be as far as possible integrated;
(2) Legal education should be planned in three
stages, (i) academic (ii) professional or vocational
(iii)
continuing after qualification
and through-
out the lawyer's professional career; (emphasis
supplied).
(3) The obtaining of a law degree should be the
normal mode of entry.
The major criticism which may be levied against
our Minister's remarks, referred to above, is the pre-
sumption that both the principles of the common and
of the civil law systems can be mastered at under-
graduate level. It is no secret that the law student of
to-day is hard-pressed indeed to master even the rudi-
ments of the common law and of Irish (and relevant
British) legislation. Let us review the teaching of
foreign law, such as it is to-day, in our Universities.
(There is, so far as this writer is aware, no attempt to
teach foreign law by the Honorable Society of the
King's Inns or by the Law School of the Incorporated
Law Society).
No mention will be made of the University Colleges
of Cork or Galway for the simple reason that no en-
quiries as to whether foreign or comparative law is
included in their Law School syllabuses have been made
by the writer.
At this stage perhaps one should mention that the
writer has no axe to grind against either U.C.D. or
T.C.D., because, being fortunate enough to be an
alumnus of both, only the welfare of the profession
governs the stance taken.
Firstly, in order to grasp the fundamentals of the
civil law without too much of a struggle, some study
of Roman law is necessary. This is provided in U.C.D.
for the B.C.L. Degree and T.C.D. for the B.A.
(Honors Legal Science, Moderatorship) Degree and
also for the Trinity LL.B. A Barrister without a Univer-
sity Degree recently admitted to the writer that he had
never even glanced at Justinian's
Institutes
! So much
for the education for the Bar at present, and the same
applies to our side of the profession.
Knowledge of Modern Languages
Secondly, as the Minister for Justice recently com-
mented, a knowledge of French or German is essential
before embarking upon any worthwhile course of com-
parative or foreign (i.e. European) law. In this country,
as in Britain, we have had a mental block against
foreign tongues. Here the aid of the secondary schools
must be enlisted, and with a reasonably good school
background, some time spent abroad and a determined
application, the diligent student will not find the lan-
guage barrier unsurmountable.
Thirdly, what actually is being taught by way of
comparative and foreign law as of now? At Trinity, a
beginning has been made. Roman law has of course
been on the curriculum from time immemorial, and the
Honors Legal Science students have a thorough
grounding in it. (Some years ago six full terms were
devoted to Roman law, the final three being devoted
to a critical analysis of Justinian, together with Sohm's
Institutes—an excellent introduction to the
Pandects
and so to the principles of the
BurgerlichesGesetzBuch.
However, it is understood that due to the pressure of
more modern and technical subjects even the Honors
Roman law course has been reduced to three terms'
study). Trinity LL.B students, like their B.C.L. counter-
parts at U.C.D., receive only an introduction to Roman
law—and now it appears that the same can be said of
TC.D. Honors students.
To continue with Trinity. Under the general head-
ing of "International law", two terms (one hour per
week) are devoted to the law of the Common Market;
this is designed both for the Honors and LL.B. stud-
ents, though of course a higher standard is expected of
the Honors students. However, most of the course is
designed to acquaint the student with Irish Constitu-
tional problems in the event of entry into the EEC
How much of the vast corpus of Common Market law
per se
can possibly be covered? Certainly not sufficient
to attain the proficiency in that subject advocated by
our President and by the Minister. Even the bare bones
of the Treaty of Rome could not adequately be covered
in the time allotted.
It is only fair to add that, it is understood, a decision
in principle has been taken by the Law School at
T.C.D. to introduce a course of comparative law at a
future date (but will
this
cover the enormous field of
EEC law?). The major difficulty, presumably, will be
to find a suitably qualified lecturer. It is fervently to
be hoped that a minimal language qualification will
also be necessary before embarking upon such a course,
as study of French or German law (or what have you)
could only be at the most elementary level without read-
ing the Codes in their original language, case law and
learned journals likewise.
U.C.D. Programme
At U C.D., an intense drive towards a broadening of
legal studies was commenced when Senator Professor
J. M. Kelly was Dean of the Faculty of Law. With his
mastery of French and German (not to mention Irish),
his
magnum opus,
"Fundamental Rights in the Irish
Law and Constitution," his expertise in the intricacies
of the Roman law, and last, but not least, his Doctorate
from Heidelberg, he was the right man at the right
time. In 1968 a one-year, part-time post-graduate
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