371 / 736
fields. The use of this technical vocabulary is a
danger, because the professions will not be able to
persuade people of the value of their knowledge.
It will therefore be necessary in the future to try
to teach to students what they know, and how it
affects other people's lives; unless we teach profes
sional students how to speak and write plain
language, we will find ourselves cut off from
public understanding.
Mr. Patrick Lynch, Professor of Applied Econo
mics stressed
that the professional classes
re
garded themselves as an elite, they insist that the
foundation of professional life is a code of ethical
behaviour. Even the public service adopts codes
of conduct derived from the professions. Unfor
tunately some professions have not adopted them
selves to modern conditions and have kept old
fashioned restrictive practices. The structure of
society is changing so rapidly that many profes
sions are unable to keep up with desirable changes;
many professions with an inward looking view of
their responsibility are poorly equipped to meet
the needs of a changing society.
Mr. John P. O'Donnell, Professor of Chemical
Engineering in U.C.D. said that, although the
intellectual professions stressed
the quality of
broadening the mind, nevertheless they are in
volved in performing certain specialised tasks in
society, and cannot consequently abandon speciali
sation. Still, education for a profession must make
it possible for its members to develop from being
specialists to being general practitioners. Essential
University courses for the professions involve three
main aspects—vocational training, study of a sub
ject in depth, and broadening of the mind. To
achieve this, it was necessary to combine profes
sional subjects with an integrating process which
will ensure that the student will acquire an overall
view of the profession and of its place in the com
munity. There is need for wide flexibility, so that
students can choose from a wide range of optional
subjects.
In
a word
professional
education
should be re-examined in relation to social and
economic judgement.
Mr. Brendan A. McGrath in summarising the
discussion, said that attention to the information
"fall-out" provided by the mass-media, and stres
sed the necessity for professional education to
provide
a
fundamental
philosophy
directed
towards an understanding of the functions of
society, as serving the dignity and freedom of the
individual, thus enabling the end-purpose of each
professional discipline to be seen in its correct
perspective, and directed towards the proper end.
CURRENT LAW DIGEST
SELECTED
In reading this digest regard should be had to differ
ences between Irish and English statute law.
Arbitration
The appointment of an arbitrator by claimants in a
shipping dispute under a charterparty incorporating the
Centrocon arbitration clause is not valid and effective
unless within the stipulated "three months of final dis
charge" (1) the selected arbitrator has been asked if he
is willing to act in the dispute, (2) has expressed his
willingness to act, and (3) the other party to the dispute
has been notified of the name of the arbitrator.
Ct. of Appeal 20/11/69 Tradax Export S.A. v. Volks-
wagenwerk A.G.
Companies
The personal representative of a deceased shareholder
was entitled to apply for the company's name to be
restored to the register and for the company then to be
wound up, even though the personal representative was
not registered as a shareholder at the date of the winding
up under section 353 of the Companies Act, 1948, the
company having ceased to trade some time previously.
Mr. Justice Buckley held on a petition by Mr. William
Walter Heath, as attorney for Mr. Vasilij Inanovich
Ivanov, of Voronezhshaya Oblast, U.S.S.R., the adminis
trator of Dina Ivanovna Billik, deceased, who had held
300 of the company's 400 issued shares.
Q.B.D. In Re Bayswater Trading Co. Ltd.
Section 184 ofthe Companies Act, 1948, which provides
that a company may by ordinary resolution remove a
director before the expiration of his period of office,
notwithstanding anything in its articles, does not prevent
companies from attaching special voting rights to certain
shares for certain occasions. Therefore a special article
in the articles of association of a family company which
provided that the shares of a director should carry three
votes on a resolution at a general meeting for the re
moval of a director was valid. Many small family com
panies, Lord Donovan said, were conducted as though
they were partnerships, and it was sometimes necessary
to provide some safeguard against family quarrels having
their repercussions in the boardroom.
House of Lords 16/12/69 Bushell v. Faith.
When a receiver and manager of a company makes
payments out of its funds after the presentation of a
petition to wind up the court will normally validate the
payments under section 227 of the Companies Act, 1948,
if the receiver has acted in good faith and the creditors
have not been prejudiced.
Ct. of Appeal 22 /10 / 69 Re Clifton Place Garage Ltd.
Contract
A letter to an employee from his employer informing
him that his wage would be reduced by £1 a week from
the following Monday was held to be a termination of
his contract by the employer under section 3(1) (a) of
the Redundancy Payments Act, 1965. The employee had
protested but had cintinued to work for some weeks for
the employer before applying for a redundancy payment.
Ct. of Appeal 24/7/69 Marriott v. Oxford and District
Co-Operative Society Ltd.
85