629 / 736
7.
The advice of organisation and methods
experts and consumer bodies should be
be taken on how to reduce legal delay and
expense.
8.
Independent bodies should
review com
plaints against solicitors and barristers.
Miss Lethbridge
shows
that, although
the
English criminal trial has great assets, some re
cent reforms such as the introduction of a major
ity verdict breaches the rule that the case be
proved beyond reasonable doubt. Margaret Laing
mentions cases where thousands of pounds were
spent, uselessly to defend principles which were
not upheld.
LEGAL
SYSTEM
CRITICISED
BY MINISTER
At the inaugural meeting of the Young Barris-
ters's Society in the Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire,
strong criticism of the present legal system came
from the Minister for Justice,
Mr. O'Malley,
last
night. He also expressed hopes that the divisions
that existed between solicitors and barristers could
be dissolved.
The present legal system, which was almost
unique outside these islands and which was in
herited from England, made for inefficiency and
expense.
"A system" he said, "which involves the oper
ation of what in effect are two separate pro
fessions and which required the retaining of a
solicitor and two or three barristers to represent
a client in the High Court is beyond the compre
hension of the ordinary citizen, not to mention
"beyond" his means.
The legal profession had failed to adjust to the
needs of modern society and this failure was due
more than anything to the opposition of vested
interests in the profession who were opposed to
change for the reasons of self interest.
The unification of the two branches of the pro
fession was closely bound up with the question of
legal education. The present system was not broad
enough and he advocated that an understanding
of the psychological, sociological and philosophi
cal implications of human behaviour were de
sirable in teaching law.
Greater emphasis should be put on compara
tive law which was so important in the context
or our law reform programme. In considering
our system of legal education we must take into
account the fact that membership of the Common
Market might soon become a reality and that this
would mean changes in the legal system if our
lawyers and barristers were to operate in other
countries.
The present division of the legal profession into
solicitors and barristers was bound to give rise to
difficulty when we come to adapt ourselves to
membership of the Common Market.
"One of
the criticisms," he
said, "of
the
present division in the profession is that it gives
rise to a lot of duplication of work."
The new Courts Bill which he said he hopes to
introduce in the New Year would include a pro
vision entitling solicitors to a right of audience
in every court in the country.
There were those who argued that, while in
theory every citizen is equal before the law, in
practice the scales of justice were heavily weighted
in favour of the rich.
Mr. Justice J. Kenny emphasised that he was
expressing a personal opinion which should not
be taken in any way as indicating the likely con
sensus of views of the Committee on Court Pro
cedure and Practice of which he was a member.
The future of the courts and legal profession, he
said, would be bound up with their previous ex
perience of finding that the Dail and Senate in
stead of giving general principles which the Courts
would be asked to work out tended to issue multi
tudinous details.
Mr. T. Finlay, S.C., disagreed with the Min
ister's suggestion that fusion of the two branches
of the profession would solve a lot of problems.
He saw a much greater danger in the rise of
powerful corporations who would be financially
too strong for the individual.
(Irish Independent,
8 December 1970)
HOW TO PICK JUDGES
A new manner of selecting judges was suggested
by Mr. Scan MacBride, S.C., when he addressed
the inaugural meeting of the U.C.D. Law Society
169