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GAZETTE
January 1976
The Chapters on Settlements and Administration of
Trusts are very important for practitioners and should
be read by any Solicitor (and that means every Solicitor)
who has ever to make a Will.
Both for the student and practitioner, the Chapter
on Mortgages is one of the most important, as our law
particularly in relation to priorities and to the practice
as to enforcement of remedies, is quite .different from
England.
The Section on Judgment Mortgages is comprehen-
sive and, in relation to Searches, the comment on page
847 should be noted that it is essential that the
description of the land in a Requisition for Search
should include all descriptions by which the land has
been known at any time, as failure to do this in a recent
case lead to a purchaser acquiring land without notice
of a judgment mortgage to which the land was subject
(Dardis and Dunne s Seeds Limited v. Hickey,
Un-
reported)—Kenny J—11 April 1974.
The only criticism this reviewer has are first, that
Flats are mentioned on page 1 and nowhere else in
the Text. One would have thought that with the de-
veloping importance of both leasehold and freehold
flats, this subject would have merited more extensive
discussion.
Secondly, that throughout the book, where discussing
words of limitation in respect of property, no mention
is made of Section 123 of the Registration of Title Act
1964 which provides that an instrument of Transfer of
freehold registered land without words of limitation
should pass the fee simple or other the whole interest
unless a contrary intention appears in the instrument
and that a transfer of freehold registered land to a
Corporation Sole by his Corporate designation without
the word "successors" should pass the fee simple or
other the whole interest unless a contrary intention
appears in the instrument.
Thirdly, the discussion on merger, particularly in
relation to pyramid titles in cities and the buying out
of the freeholds under the Ground Rents Acts, was dis-
appointing. It seemed to this reviewer that the central
problem of endeavouring to merge part of a lease in
the reversion could have been dealt with more author-
itively. One was surprised to see no reference to Section
12 of the Conveyancing Act 1881 in the discussion.
Fourthly, the discussion on the Concept of Family
Assets and the Spouse's Equity in the Matrimonial
Home was also disappointing. Whilst the text states
that the British Authorities and the Northern Ireland
Authority of
McFarlane
v.
McFarlane—(1972
)
N.I.—
had been considered by Mr. Justice Kenny in the case
of
Heavey
v.
Heavey,
unreported—20 December 1974
— it was not clear as to the view he took as to
the rights of a spouse who would not be entitled under
the usual doctrines of Property Law such as the pre-
sumptions of a resulting trust or advancement.
Obviously these are very minor criticisms to make
about this tremendous addition to Irish Legal literature,
which every Solicitor in practice should acquire. It is
to be hoped that the Law Commission will use this
work and "The Survey of Northern Ireland Land
Law" as a basis for the rapid attention to the reform
of Land Law which is urgently needed.
Hugh M. Fitzpatrick
The learned author of this comprehensive work is
Senior Lecturer in Law at University College, Cardiff,
and Editor of the
Northern Ireland Legal
Quarterly.
His decision to write the book is a major event in Irish
legal writing. It is almost fifty years since the last text
book on the Land Law of Ireland was published. The
ice has been broken. It is hoped that other academic
lawyers in Ireland will now undertake works on other
vital subjects such as Conveyancing, Family Law and
Tort.
Irish Land Law
was commissioned by the Incor-
porated Law Society of Ireland and sponsored by the
Arthur Cox Foundation. Jurists in both parts of Ireland
owe a great debt to the Law Society and to the Foun-
dation. The Chairman of the Foundation, Mr. Justice
Kenny acted as Consultant Editor for the Law in the
Republic of Ireland.
Previously students of Irish Land Law were forced
to read Megarry's
Manual of the Law of Real Property,
Megarry and Wade's
The Law of Real Property
and
Cheshire's
The Modern Law of Real Property
(the
leading student text books on this area in England).
Now they can turn with an easy mind to Mr. Wylie's
book. The law of both the Republic of Ireland and
Northern Ireland is covered. In some chapters separate
treatment has been given to the two jurisdictions. How-
ever, integrated discussion occurs wherever possible.
The book states the law as on 1st May 1975. Paragraph
numbers (usually corresponding to paragraphs of the
text) have been inserted throughout the book on a
chapter by chapter basis. In a book of this size and
scope this ensures tidiness of presentation.
The author wrote this book with both practitioners
and students in mind. The book, which has a compre-
hensive citation of authorities (and especially Irish
authorities) in the foot-notes, will be a convenient
reference work for practitioners. They will be inter-
ested in the author's lengthy and learned treatment of
mortgages. They will find the section on Powers of
Attorney particularly useful as there is not much readily
available written material on this kind of power in the
Republic of Ireland. The optional pratice of filing an
instrument (whose execution is verified) creating a power
of attorney in the proper office of the Supreme Court
is referred to. In Northern Ireland this practice has
been abolished because it was expensive and cumber-
some and did not secure any protection for interested
parties. However the author states that the right to
search the file and to obtain an office copy of an
instrument already deposited is preserved.
The book also caters for the student in that the law
is explained in a straightforward manner. As much of
the language of this area is technical, the author usually
does not leave unexplained any word or phrase which
might cause difficulty. The reader is gradually intro-
duced to each topic by means of an interesting and
quite substantial introduction. At the beginning of the
first chapter the author discusses a typical land trans-
action and includes references to further parts of the
book which deal with the complexities discussed. The
reader is assisted throughout by examples which the
author uses to illustrate certain points. There are
appropriate foot-notes with erudite references to further
reading in articles, standard text books and mono-
graphs. The law student might well be advised to read
the main body of the work on the topic he is studying
and to achieve an understanding of that topic before
looking at any of the foot-notes.
In his deep research the author discovered the exis-
tence of an abundance of Irish material. However,
important recent English case law is not ignored. For
example,
Re Baden's Deed Trusts, McPhail
v.
Doulton
(1971) A.C. 424, a decision of the House of Lords, is
discussed within the context of powers of appointment.
The doctrine of secret trusts has been the subject of
controversy over the years. Irish judges have not always
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