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which is let but who has to borrow money in order
to improve or repair the property. The interest
payable
in
respect of
the
loan will now be
relieved from tax which could not be adequately
done under the old law. Part II of the Bill deals
with stamp duties and section II limits the duties
on agreements for hire of goods, wares, merchan
dise, machinery and plant to the fixed duties of
6d and 10/- which apply to hire-purchase and
credit-sale agreements. The section also relieves
from the charge of duty guarantees for payments
under agreements for hire.
Part IV of the Bill deals with profits or gains
from dealings in or developing land. Section 19
in particular is an anti-avoidance measure which
deals with
the position which arises when a
company erects a building which if sold by it
would produce a taxable profit. If, however, the
shares of the company were sold to the purchaser
in the absence of specific legislation the vendors
of the shares would receive their money in a non-
taxable form. This Section renders such a tran
saction void for the purposes of saving tax. Section
20 deals with the same position where a holding
company is introduced and the same result goes in
Section 20 as under Section 19. Section 21 con
tains a number of supplementary provisions de
signed to ensure the effectiveness of Sections 19
and 20.
SOLICITORS' ACCOUNTS REGULATIONS
1967
Definition of Accountant
Under paragraph 2 of the regulations "accoun
tant" means :—
(a) a person approved by the Council who is a
member of either the Institute of Chartered
Accountants in Ireland or the Association of
Certified and Corporate Accountants :
(b) any other person who is considered by the
Council to have adequate qualifications or
experience in the auditing of accounts, and
where the context so admits or requires in
cludes a firm of accountants.
Following
representations
received
from
the
Irish Society of Certified Public Accountants the
Council propose to amend paragraph 2 of the
regulations in due course so that the I.S.C.P.A.
will be named specifically in the regulations, in
the same manner as the Institute of Chartered
Accountants and the Association of Certified and
Corporate Accountants.
In
the meantime
the
Council will accord them similar recognition in
considering applications from individual accoun
tants for approval under the regulation.
CASES OF THE MONTH
Solicitors' Accounts
In 1967 the Law Society served on a solicitor
notices under r. 11 of the Solicitors' Accounts
Rules, 1945
("The Accounts Rules") requiring
him to produce at his office his books of account,
bank pass books, statements of account, vouchers
and other necessary documents in relation to his
practice at that office address and in relation to
every trust of which he was sole trustee or a co-
trustee only with a partner, clerk or servant of
his, for the inspection of the Society's investigation
accountant. The
solicitor brought
an
action
against the Society and its Secretary-General and
others claiming an injunction to restrain them
from acting on the notices and claiming that the
plaintiff solicitor was entitled 1.o particulars of any
complaint or representation made to any of the
defendants as to his conduct as a solicitor. The
plaintiff solicitor relied on s. 46(6) of the Solici
tors Act, 1957, whereby no person was
to be
compelled in proceedings before the disciplinary
committee to produce any document which he
could not be compelled to produce at the trial of
an action, and the palintiff solicitor contended
that the investigation accountant was not entitled
on investigation under s.29 of the Act of 1957 to
inspect privileged documents with the consequence
of r. 11 of the Accounts Rules were ultra vires lo
the extent that they purported to provide to the
contrary.
Held :
the plaintiff solicitor's writ disclosed no
cause of action and accordingly the writ would
be struck out, for the following reasons :—
(i) because rr. 11 of the accounts rules were not
ultra vires as the Law Society was bound by s.29
(1)
(c) and 2(c) of the Solicitors Act, 1957, to
make such rules as would enable the Society to
discover whether the accounts rules were being
observed, and the two rr. 11 did not more than
that; accordingly clients' legal professional privi
lege was not a valid ground of objecting to dis
closure of documents properly within the scope of
the investigation accountant's inquiry,
(ii) because the Law Society was not under any
obligation at the stage of investigation under s.29
to give information to the plaintiff solicitor as to
the Society's reasons for making an investigation
in accordance with the relevant accounts rules.
(Parry-Jones v. The Law Society and Others
(1967) 3 All E.R. p.248).
New Peril for Solicitors
The solicitor who had acted for the plaintiff Mrs.
Cook, had been negligent in not taking steps to
prevent the divorce suit brought, by .her husband
54