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when matters of mutual interest were discussed, and
in particular, legal aid.
A sub-committee of the Council has prepared a
report on the question of the necessity for adjudi
cation of leases.
Copies of this report are being
sent to the Incorporated Law Society, and to the
various solicitors acting for lending bodies.
At the request of the Ground Rents Commission, a
report was prepared by the Council, and sent to the
secretary of the Commission.
Two members of
the Council will attend at the sitting of the Com
mission, to give evidence on the report if required.
In view of the small response to the circular letter
regarding the proposed trip to New York, the
venture is not being proceeded with.
THE SOCIETY'S CALENDAR AND LAW
DIRECTORY
The Publications Committee have under con
sideration the question of revising and reprinting
the calendar with a view to making it more attractive
and useful. Bar Associations and individual members
are invited to consider the matter and to communi
cate to the Secretary any suggestions for the im
provement of the publication.
All suggestions
received will be considered carefully by the com
mittee.
The Council wish to apologise to members who
ordered the 1962 Calendar for the delay in public
ation. This was due to printing difficulties and the
delay was completely outside the Society's control.
The calendar is now available for those who have
placed orders and any member wishing to obtain a
copy who has not placed an order may, by applying
to the Society, have his name put down for any
surplus copies available after orders have been
fulfilled.
NO APPEARANCE WHEN CASE
CALLED
The Times
for March yth, contains a report of a
statement made from the Bench by Lord Chief
Justice Parker.
His lordship said that solicitors
should carefully watch the weekly and daily lists as
it had come to his attention that four cases had
recently been called on before judges trying non-jury
cases and that neither a solicitor nor counsel had
appeared on either side. These cases had all appeared
in the weekly warned list, the daily warned list and
the day's cause list. His lordship stated that in
future those who appeared to be in default would be
ordered personally to pay any costs thrown away.
His lordship also said that recently several cases
had appeared in the day's cause list when they had
been settled some months before that.
It was
essential for solicitors to inform the clerk in charge
of the lists of any settlement and also of the possible
length of cases to ensure the proper administration
of the work of the courts. This was the respon
sibility of both solicitors and counsel.
SOLICITORS WORK TO RULE
A newspaper report of March ist from Glasgow
indicates that twenty-six solicitors operating the
Poor's Roll at Glasgow Sheriff's Court began to work
to rule on March ist. They are doing so against the
decision of the Government
that
they cannot
introduce a Bill in the present session of Parliament
to establish a comprehensive system of legal aid in
criminal cases in Scotland as recommended by the
Guthrie Report.
Legal aid in criminal cases in
Scotland originated in medieval times.
In distant
and more leisured
times it was considered no
unfair burden on the profession that a number of
solicitors in each locality should be appointed on
a roster to take on the duties of representing the
poor. In more recent times the Treasury allocated
an annual sum of £8,000 which was distributed by
the Law Society among the solicitors so acting on a,
more or less,
quantum merttit
basis. Applications
for legal aid became so numerous that the duty of
representing the poor, or allegedly poor, became
an impossible burden. Furthermore many persons
seeking legal aid were found or suspected to have
sufficient means to pay for legal assistance.
A
committee under the chairmanship of Lord Guthrie
investigated the position and drew up a report
recommending that the present system should be
scrapped and replaced by a comprehensive legal aid
system in criminal cases. The net cost would be
about £250,000 and the Government were slow to
implement the report.
On March ist, none of the solicitors who take
on the Poor's Roll on a rota appeared for prisoners
at the Summary Court. The work to rule takes the
form of adhering strictly to what they consider is
the meaning of the terms of the schedule to the
Sheriff's Court (Scotland) Act 1907, by refusing to
give free legal representation to any person on a
criminal charge until that person produces a sworn
affidavit that he or she is unable to pay for legal
representation.
Procedure at the Summary Court was faster than
usual. Only three of the twenty-four persons who
appeared on charges had instructed a solicitor to
represent them. The others, although informed by
Sheriff J. Bayne that he would grant them an
adjournment so that they could obtain a solicitor,
did not ask for the services of Poor's Roll solicitors,