572 / 736
will refer to our own statutes and rules of courv
and to the decisions of the Superior Courts, and,
where necessary,
Wylie
and the
White Book
will
be consulted.
However, in Part II of the text book, which
deals with non-contentions matters, Irish lawyers
who have little knowledge of conveyancing prac
tice, and who wish to learn the elements of this
evasive subject, will find an interesting and instruc
tive chapter relating to procedure in the buying
and selling of unregistered freehold and leasehold
land.
GERARD A. LEE
CORRESPONDENCE
The Secretary,
Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.
Dear Sir—I refer to mine of May 22 last and
yours of 3 June 1970.
I enclose you herewith an incomplete copy of
the Form L.A.I which I submitted to the Registrar
of the Central Criminal Court. The reason why
trie copy is incomplete is that the Registrar sent it
direct to the Department of Justice instead of
returning it to me for lodgment with the Depart
ment.
You will be glad to know that I have today
received from the Department of Justice three
cheques, one
for £17-15-0
in
favour of
the
witness. You will note that in fact I claimed
the sum of £18-15-0 being £15-15-0 hire of hack
ney, and £3 subsistence expenses which I in fact
paid. I don't propose to raise any objection in this
matter, I suppose the Department could argue
that £3 subsistence was too high for the witness,
and I assume that they have reduced the amount
by £1. The one objection I have to the fact is
that the pay order is made out to the witness
instead of to me, but I imagine that I will be
able to surmount this difficulty.
I have also received a cheque for £21 in favour
of counsel, which are the fees I claimed on his
behalf. Again I don't propose to object to this
except that in actual fact, in accordance with the
usual professional practice, I sent counsel a cheque
for his fees on 8 May 1970, and presumably even
though the banks have been closed since then, he
has negotiated or cashed the cheque. In any event
I have no complaint to make except that I feel
that counsel's fees should be included in the costs
paid to the solicitor as is usual, rather than to
have a separate pay order issued to counsel for
his fees.
You will note that my own profit cost claim
amounted to the sum of £37-14-6, and the pay
order I have received from the Department of
Justice is in the sum of £36-12-9, a difference of
£1-1-0. This is a small item and I don't propose
to quarrel with it.
While I don't suppose that one can argue from
one particular case to a general rule, this case
appears to establish or tends to establish the pro
position that whereas a solicitor out of his own
pocket pays the travelling and subsistence expenses
of a witness, that he is entitled to be refunded the
reasonable amount of these expenses, even though
they exceed the amount that might be strictly
payable on foot of
the regulations, where the
witness is limited to travelling by the cheapest
form of transport. In this case, of course, Mr.
Justice Kenny made the strongest possible recom
mendation that the full amount of the witness's
expenses—she being a cripple—should be paid.
The second and more important point from the
point of view of solicitors is that I have been paid
for travelling to Mountjoy Jail for a consultation
with the accused. I was not paid these travelling
and subsistence expenses in a previous legal aid
case where I travelled to Mountjoy Jail.
As I say you cannot argue from the particular
to the general, but this case does appear to estab
lish that the Department of Justice is prepared
to pay the expenses of a solicitor attending in
Dublin or presumably elsewhere, for the purpose
of taking instructions from an accused in respect
of his defence. This appears, to my mind, to accord
with commonsense, because I cannot apprehend
for one moment that any solicitor could properly
brief counsel in a criminal case without first inter
viewing the accused, and taking detailed instruc
tions in regard to trie book of evidence served in
the case.
Yours faithfully,
Edmund S. Doyle,
12 North Main St.,
Wexford.
20 October 1970.
116