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CORRESPONDENCE
Housing Act 1966—Section 90
and Section 92
To each Housing Authority
Dear Sir
It has been brought to the attention of the Council
of this Society that orders under Section 90 (3) of the
Housing Act 1966 are being prepared by employees of
Local Authorities who are not solicitors. Further the
requirement that such order be registered in the Land
Registry imposed on the Housing Authority by Section
92 is in some instances being discharged by employees
of the Housing Authority who are not solicitors.
The Council have asked me to set out for your
information the following provisions of Section 58 of
the Solicitors Act 1954:
58(1) This section applies to the following acts :
(a) The drawing or preparing of a document
relating to real or personal estate or any
legal proceedings.
(b) The procuring or attempting to procure the
execution by an Irish citizen of a document
relating to :
(i) real or personal estate, or movable or
immovable property, situate or being
outside the State and the United
Kingdom, or
(ii) Any legal proceedings, actual or in
contemplation of which the subject-
matter is any such estate or property.
(c) the making of an application, or the lodging
of a document for registration, under the
Registration of Title Act, 1891, or any Act
amending that Act, at the Land Registry or
to or with a local registering authority.
(2) An unqualified person who does a act to which
this section applies shall, subject to subsection
(3) of this section and without prejudice to any
other liability or disability to which he may be
subject, be guilty of an offence under this
section and he liable on summary conviction
therefore to a fine not exceeding one hundred
pounds.
I have also been asked to point out that the provision
in sub-section (3) (c) of the Act exempting an act done
by any public officer in the course of duty has been
construed by the Courts and that it is well established
that an employee of a Local Authority is not a public
officer for the purposes of this Section.
In the view of the Council the preparation of an
order under Section 90 of the Housing Act 1966 by an
employee of a Housing Authority is a contravention of
Section 58(1) (a) and the lodging of the order for
registration as required by Section 92 of the Housing
Act 1966 is a contravention of Section 58(1) (c).
Yours faithfully,
Joseph Finnegan,
Assistant Secretary
25th November 1971.
One hundred years ago
TYPICAL OBITUARY OF THE TIME
RICHARD ATKINSON, ESQ.
It is with great regret that we have to record the death
of Mr. Richard Atkinson, of Dawson Street and Gort-
more, one of the most eminent solicitors of this city,
which took place on Monday night. He was suddenly
seized on Saturday morning, and after remaining more
or less unconscious up to one o'clock on Monday, finally
succumbed from pressure on the brain. He was a man
of great breath of view, sound discretion, great observa-
tion, a very able lawyer, and, above all, of a high and
unswerving integrity, which impressed itself on all with
whom he had dealings. Few men have been so implicitly
trusted, and few have ever possessed the secret of so
completely inspiring unlimited confidence. For the
space of nearly a quarter of a century he acted as
solicitor for several of the great leading bodies, and
enormous sums passed through his hands for investment.
He was the legal adviser of very many companies.
In this capacity he carried through a greater number
of large investment transactions than probably have
fallen to the lot of any member of the profession in
Ireland. His operations were conducted in the most
quiet and unostentatious manner. He preferred to let
his acts speak for themselves, he was of a retiring
nature, and took no part in politics. In his own parti-
cular circle he evinced great geniality of disposition.
He was a most amusing guest, and an excellent host,
full of quiet humour, keen observation, and general
enjoyment of life. He was, in all respects, a good man
It is not too much to say that his death caused a
void almost impossible to fill.—
Irish Times,
July 1871.
192