The Gazette 1976

GAZETTE

JUNE/JULY 1976

institute a Law Faculty with full-time professors and

lecturers.

The

Hon. Mr. Justice Kenny

proposed, and

Mr. John

F. Buckley,

Chairman of the Education Committee

seconded the Resolution that the Auditor deserved the

best thanks of the Society for his address, and that it

be printed at the expense of the Society. This resolution

was carried unanimously. The script of these speeches

is not available.

Mr. Diarmuid Sheridan, S.C.,

proposed the resolu-

tion "That the Solicitors' Apprentices' Debating Society

of Ireland is worthy of the support of Solicitors'

Apprentices, of the Council of the Incorporated Law

Society of Ireland and of the Solicitors' profession".

Mr. Diarmuid P. Sheridan,

S.C., in moving this reso-

lution said that he wished to make it quite clear that

this was, in no way, a family affair. I bear no relation-

ship, as far as I know, to the Auditor, said Mr. Sheridan.

It was a paper obviously carefully assembled and

designed to set out in relief the many problems of legal

education.

We are all very deeply conscious, nowadays, of the

increasing numbers of those desiring to enter the pro-

fessions either through the Universities or other Degree

Bodies. This problem appears to me to be so acute that

a certain type of individual gifted in his own special

way such as a lawyer may find the door to his profession

barred and bolted by reason of his failure to obtain the

necessary number of points in the Leaving Certificate

examination. I would like to make a plea for the

late developer who may not have found such subjects

as Algebra, Georgaphy and Biology greatly to his liking

but who has, nevertheless, a passion for justice.

Courage essential for the Lawyer

I wonder how we got on at all in the old days when

any student, except in rare and exceptional circum-

stances, was entitled to embrace a profession by the

expedient of either passing the Leaving Certificate

examination or achieving a Pass in the appropriate

Preliminary Examination for his chosen profession. It

does not necessarily follow that a boy or girl equipped

with a superfluity of points will make the best Lawyer.

In my view, the first great attribute of

the

Lawyer is courage. It may need courage, first of all, to

get through the examination with the limited amount

of intellectual powers bestowed by the Almighty on the

particular student, but, having got there, I feel

that this same courage will equip the Lawyer

with a special attribute of inestimable value to society.

Tt seems to me that, this courage inspires a high degree

integrity.

is essential

for the

Lawyer,

occasionally at least, to embrace the unpopular

cause. The motivating factor of a Lawyer is not

necessarily confined to questions of money, but the

measure of our freedom is essentially the right and

obligation, in appropriate circumstances, for the Lawyer

to arrive in Court and to be able, fearlessly, to say

"thou shalt not" to Government Departments, Local

Bodies or any other powerful organs, acting under cir-

cumstances whereby injustice is being caused to the

Lawyer's client. This is an essential element in a free

Society.

Rules for Government of Prisons

These comments, I think, naturally lead me to my

second point and this concerns Statutory Instrument 30

of 1976 known as "The Rules for the Government of

Prisons 1976". In the Explanatory Note which does not

purport to be a legal interpretation, it is stated that

these Rules empower the Minister to direct the Governor

of a Prison to exclude for reasons of security, a person,

including a Prisoner's Legal Adviser, from the Prison,

or to admit a person only on such conditions or in such

circumstances as the Minister may direct. I have read

these Rules and after my twenty-three years as a practis-

ing Lawyer I never thought I would see the day when

I would be included in the brackets at the end of

Clause 2 of the Rules which read "including a

Prisoner's Legal Adviser". I am well aware that because

we live in troubled times there is a necessity

for State security, but, I feel that this denial,

formalised in these Rules, is a denial of a basic funda-

mental human right enjoye'd by a person in custody in

Prison to consult with a Legal Adviser of his own

choosing in respect of the Charges brought against him.

Whilst it may be contended that these Rules are

designed to cater for a minute section of our Legal

Profession, there is nothing to stop a Civil Servant

including my name or the name of the President of the

Incorporated Law Society or anyone else in a list pre-

pared by him and with his pen to deny our services to

a person in custody in a Prison. It will be argued that

powers contained in Clause 3 of the Regulations form

a safeguard but this provision, as I read it, merely

means that the entire membership of the Legal Pro-

fession cannot be included in the list and I feel it is

quite wrong for the reasonable choice of Legal Adviser

by a Prisoner in custody to be subject to the sanction

or limitation of the Minister for Justice or his Agents.

Members of the Legal Profession, in dealing with

Prisoners in custody, are under a duty, both under

the Law and under the Rules of their Profession, not

to deal in or in any way be party to any subversive

activities under the cloak of Legal Advice and Consul-

tation. This is a matter of trust and if the trust is

broken by any member of the Legal Profession, be he

Barrister or Solicitor, such an individual should be

visited by the full rigours of the Law and punished

accordingly and, in addition, he should be also made

liable to the maximum penalties prescribed by the

Governing Bodies of his Profession by reason of such

breach of trust.

Defence of legal jargon

The Auditor in his paper referred to the use

by Lawyers of a great deal of technical jargon. May

make some defence in relation to this. We are con-

stantly subjected to the rising tide of administrative law

made possible by simple Statutes giving the Minister

power to make Regulations of every shape and form.

This leads to inadequate legislation in the sense that

the policy of the Act is not always clearly stated with

clarity and completeness. There is always a danger in

oversimplification as witness the Workmen's Compensa-

tion Act of 1934 which was supposed to be a measure of

classic simplicity and one which even the most unlettered

could readily understand. Years later learned articles

were still being written and learned Judgments still

delivered upon such topics as what precisely was meant

by "An accident arising out of and in the course of

employment". The comprehensive Statutes of the last

century have stood the test of time much better, even

although, the expansiveness of the Draftsman could, in

some churlish quarters, be reckoned as creating jargon.

The President then thanked the Auditor for his

address, and the speakers. The Meeting then termin-

ated.

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