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The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.
[DECEMBER, 1932
that he had no doubt that the Court Officers
Act, 1926, gave judicial power to the County
Registrar to give final judgment, and that
it was not the function of the Circuit Court
Judge to say whether the exercise of judicial
power by the County Registrar was
ultra
vires
Article 64 of the Constitution. There
is no doubt that a not inconsiderable number
of lawyers consider that the exercise of this
judicial power by County Registrars
is
ultra vires
the Constitution, and
conse–
quent!}' the matter cannot be said to rest on
quite a satisfactory basis. Another question
on the rules of some importance, especially
to those Solicitors who do not practise in
county towns,
is whether
the necessary
papers to enable judgment to be marked
in the County Registrar's Office can be sent
to the County Registrar by post or must be
presented by a Solicitor or his assistant
personally at
the office. A number of
County Registrars maintain that these papers
cannot be sent by post, notwithstanding
Rule 18, Order XLI, which provides that any
document may be sent
by
post to the County
Registrar.
If
the
contention
of
these
officials is correct it means that Solicitors
who do not practise in county towns must
appoint agents there to represent them.
Circuit Court appeals have been dealt with
as expeditiously as circumstances permit.
There are at
the moment 108 appeals
unheard.
EQUITY APPEALS
The Taxing Masters have intimated as a re–
sult of representations to them that in future
all proper and necessary affidavits, certi–
ficates and orders briefed to counsel on the
hearing of Equity appeals will be allowed.
RETURNS AS TO EXTERNAL TRADE.
The Minister of Finance intimated to the
Council towards the end of last year that he
was anxious to collect statistics regarding
the external trade and commerce of the
Saorstat. The Minister explained that the
Irish Banks had agreed to keep records
and also members of the Stock Exchange.
These statistics were required to show the
value of securities bought or sold on the
Stock Exchange by Saorstat residents to
1 and from persons who resided elsewhere.
At first sight it would appear that returns
from Bankers and Stockbrokers would cover
every transaction on the Stock Exchange,
but it was pointed out that a considerable
volume of dealings in securities is transacted
otherwise than through the Dublin and Cork
Stock Exchanges, and the Minister said that
he thought a substantial proportion of this
business
passes
through
the hands
of
Solicitors
via
London Stock Brokers.
Considerable correspondence ensued with
the Ministry, and the Council decided to
comply with
the Minister's
requisitions
in
the matter and
to commend
to
the
Profession
compliance by filling up
the
necessary
forms which were
settled at
interviews which I had with the Ministry
early in the present year.
The Return asked for from Solicitors in the
Irish Free State is the total cash value of all
Stock Exchange Securities acquired person–
ally or
on behalf of clients from persons
residing outside
the Saorstat by means
of
Stock
Exchange
purchases
outside
Saorstat Eireann, and likewise the cash value
of all securities
transferred by Saorstat
residents, or personally to persons residing
outside the Saorstat by means of Stock
Exchange sales outside Saorstat Eireann.
These forms have recently been issued to
Solicitors, and it is recommended that they
should be filled tip and returned
to
the
Secretary of
the Law Society, who has
undertaken to summarise the figures and
furnish the aggregate for use to the Ministry.
This will not entail any great amount of
trouble to members of the Profession, and
the Council felt that it was their duty to
support the Minister in the compilation of
useful and necessary statistics.
MEMBERSHIP OF SOCIETY.
The membership of the Society to date is
769. This shows a satisfactory
increase
over last year of 68, while the number of
Solicitors practising in the Irish Free State
is at
the moment 1,248. The
increased
membership of the Society is gratifying, but
still it is hard to reconcile that there are
479 practising Solicitors on the Roll who do
not think it worth their while to become
members of the Society.