224 / 736
hardship to the purchaser. Counsel, in his com
ments on this matter, pointed out that this has
been a standard condition here and in England
(prior to 1925) more or less from time imme
morial. In the days when the legal estate was
essential, as it was in England when there was no
system of registration of deeds, a vendor could
be put to very heavy expense in trying to trace
and get in the legal estate when he might have
been quite unaware that it was outstanding.
Counsel points out that in Ireland today it is
very seldom necessary to get in the legal estate,
except where there are tenancies, or a possibility
of trespass by someone claiming an adverse title,
when the legal estate would be necessary to sus
tain an ejectment. But as in most cases it is a
bare legal estate, which will be barred in twelve
years, the actual occasions where it has to be got
in are few and far between. Counsel states that
the conditions of sale are for the protection of
the Vendor and
if his
solicitor omitted
this
condition and
it cost
the vendor money
to
get in the legal estate, the solicitor might be
liable for negligence. He states that if this condi
tion were omitted it would always have to be
written in and the Society would have to attach
a note
to
the new
form pointing out
the
omission and stating that solicitors are advised,
for their own protection, to insert this or a similar
provision.
The Council also sought the observations of
counsel on the provision in clause 10 of the auc
tion sale conditions, which entitles
the vendor
to rescind the sale if the Purchaser insists on an
objection or requisition with which the vendor
cannot comply, the purchaser being entitled, in
that event, to the return of his deposit and a sum
equivalent to auction fees paid by him. Counsel
states that, in such case, the vendor could not
recover the auction fees from the auctioneer be
cause the latter has done all that he was em
ployed
to do.
It
is
the vendor's fault
if he
chooses
to put up property
for
sale without
having had the title properly investigated. In this
case the conditions are favourable to
the pur
chaser, but this is because he has no way of doing
anything about it and he ought not to be made
to suger for the vendor's lack of care. If it is
desired to shift the burden, the condition would
have to be amended to provide that the Pur
chaser shall not be entitled to the return of any
monies paid by him to the auctioneers by way
of auction fee, but counsel pointed out that in
such case the result might be that the vendor
either deliberately or carelessly might be getting
a bonus of a substantial sum out of the purchaser's
pocket in return for doing nothing at all.
STANDARD REQUISITIONS ON TITLE
Counsel has been instructed to settle a standard
form of general requisition on title for the use of
members. These will be on sale in due course.
THE DUBLIN SOLICITORS' BAR
ASSOCIATION
At the Annual General Meeting of the Dublin
Solicitors' Bar Association held on 14th October
1968 the following Officers and Council Members
were elected :—
President, Victor Wolfe; Vice-President, George
A. Williams; Hon. Secretary, Miss Thelma King;
Hon. Treasurer, E. Rory O'Connor; Hon. Audi
tors, Patrick Glynn and Eamon J. Growley;
Council Members,
John Buckley, Gerard M.
Doyle, Patrick Golden, Gordon Henderson, John
P. A. Hooper, Thomas Jackson, Maurice Kenny,
Richard Knight and David R. Pigot.
COUNTY & CITY OF LIMERICK
SESSIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION
The Officers and Committee of the above Associa
tion for the coming year are :—
President, D. G. O'Donovan; Treasurer, Joseph
Dundon; Secretary, D. G. O'Donovan (Junior).
Committee, Thomas E. O'Donnell, Gordon A.
Holmes, Michael B. O'Malley, James I. Sexton,
Robert Cussen, James Dennison.
IRISH ASSOCIATION OF JURISTS
A meeting of the Association was held in the
Clarence Hotel, Dublin on Monday, 19th Novem
ber, 1968 at 8 p.m. The meeting was addressed
by Mr. Scan McBride, S.C., the Secretary of the
International Commission of Jurists, which has
its headquarters in Geneva. Outlining the work
of
the International Commission Mr. McBride
stated that it was the duty of lawyers in every
country to press the government of the day to
undertake
legal
reform. Despite Constitutional
guarantees we in Ireland had no reason to be
complacent; the maintenance of the Rule of Law
was a developing concept and
to accept
the
status quo without question or inquisition was the
first step in social irresponsibility. In recent years
the contribution of the national sections of the
Association had assumed great importance. Mr.
McBride praised the Austrian section who came
SO