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Government that the desired object should be achieved
by amending the existing law so as
to provide that
notice of appeal would automatically suspend the dis–
qualification unless the District Justice on special stated
grounds otherwise directed. It is undesirable that the
Government should in cases of this kind interfere with
orders made by
the Courts. The Minister for Local
Government considered the representations made by the
Society and others and we are very glad
that
the
objectionable section has been withdrawn and notice of
appeal now stays all disqualification orders.
Court Fees
Attention has been drawn by my predecessors to
the
ever
increasing burden of
the
fees charged by
the
Government for the administration of the Courts and
public offices such as Land Registry. I believe that the
Court and Land Registry fees now being charged are
about the highest in the world. The machinery of justice
which
is a public service should be available
to all
citizens but it is now being sold and sold at an exorbitant
and uneconomic price. If a trader's estate falls into the
hands of the Bankruptcy Office that office will charge
15 per cent, i.e. 3/- in the pound before any of the
creditors receive a single penny. A fee of £6 is payable
to the State on the simple operation of stamping and
filing an originating plenary summons. This
is
twelve
times the fee which was charged for the same service in
1939. This pattern runs throughout the whole scale of
fees collected by
the State
in connection with
the
administration of justice. Taxation is being imposed by
hidden means. The fees charged in the Land Registry
have been increased in about the same dimensions. The
public should know that solicitors' fees are not respon–
sible for these increases; on the contrary the profession
have to carry an extremely high burden of outlay in
respect of fees paid on behalf of clients to the State
which are not recoverable in many cases for lengthy
periods and in some cases may be irrecoverable. The
legal profession has
in fact become part of
the
tax
gathering machine. Stamp duties on property
trans–
actions are 3 per cent on the value, the highest rate in
these islands. Liability for stamp duty full rate com–
mences at £2,500 while
in England
exemption
is
extended to £5,000 or more and then the rate of duty
is much lower than here.
Legal Education
The report of the Commission on Higher Education has
just been published. The Society submitted a memoran–
dum
to
the commission
in 1961 which contained a
number of far reaching proposals. The system of legal
education as affecting the solicitors profession has been
handed down since the eighteenth century and is rigidly
prescribed by statute. The Council made the following
suggestions :
1. The entire system of
legal education should be
prescribed not by statute but by regulations made by
the Society under statutory authority. The Society's
regulations should be subject
to
the approval of
the
President of the High Court. This would enable
the
Society in consultation with the President of the High
Court to modernise
the system
to meet present day
requirements. Among the matters to be considered would
be whether apprenticeship is necessary; if it is necessary
the duration and nature of
the apprenticeship;
the
subjects to be taught and the manner in which instruc–
tion should be given; the scope and nature of professional
examinations.
2. The present system of apprenticeship
is unsatis–
factory. It runs concurrently with university studies and
studies in the Society's Law School. The memorandum
suggested that there should first be compulsory university
degree followed by or combined with
instruction
in
technical professional subjects at the professional Law
School. Students should be entitled to present themselves
for the Society's examinations during this period. On
passing
the examinations
there should be
a chorter
period of wholetime service as an apprenticed or articled
clerk in an approved solicitor's office for one to two years
preferably at a salary. The Council took the view that
a shorter period of service woule be more beneficial
provided that it is wholetime and not concurrent as at
present.
3. The Society also suggested that there should be a
common system of legal education for barristers and
solicitors and that there should be greater facilities for
transfer from the Bar to the solicitors profession and
vice-versa. The present provision of the Solicitors Acts
and the regulations of
the Benchers of King's
Inns,
which provides that a practitioner may not change from
one branch to the other until after five years practice,
is unnecessarily restrictive. It would be of benefit to the
legal profession as a whole if every law student whether
destined for the solicitors profession or the Bar served
the short two year period in the office of a practising
solicitor before admission. If this were done the student
could elect on admission for the branch of the profession
of his choice and should be entitled to change from one
to
the other at any time but not
to practice both
concurrently.
4. The Council also suggested that in regard to the
large numbers of solicitors' apprentices who attend the
University Law Schools the Incorporated Law Society
should be entitled to have representation on the govern–
ing bodies of the universities. Now that the report of
the Commission on Higher Education has been published
the Society are taking steps to initiate discussions with
the Benchers, the universities and the Government.
Office Organisation
The Committee of the Council has been studying the
problem of maximum efficiency in solicitors' offices and
an article on the subject was printed in the Society's
Gazette
in January last. The subject has also been
included in the instruction given to solicitors' appren–
tices. Allied to the question of office organisation is the
matter of co-operation between solicitors
in the daily
conduct of business. This has also been the subject of
announcements made by the Society from time to time
and a further article will be published in the
Gazette.
Organisation and- Method in the Courts
The Council submitted a memorandum to the Commis–
sion on the Courts suggesting reforms in Court proce–
dure. A copy of the memorandum is
in the hands of
each member attending this meeting. I am afraid that
the Court of Justice have become the Cinderella of the
public service in this matter. While the Departments of
Finance, Industry and Commerce, Agriculture and other
economic departments are daily occupied with proposals
to improve their efficiency, the mechanical organisation
of
the Courts of Justice and
the offices with which
solicitors deal
shows
little change. Such matters as