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repealed or modified in so far as it relates to trusts and to
taxation.
Two of the working parties have already produced reports,
one of them in an interim form and these have been forwarded
to the minister. We have offered to see him and discuss any
aspects of the suggested reforms if he should consider this
•would be of advantage.
Before the minister announced his programme the council
had been considering, as members know, the question of
organisation and method, both in solicitors offices and in
offices with which they have to deal with a view to simplifying
and expediting the work. To take but one example the council
had considered the question of the Registry of Deeds, a most
efficient organisation which still operates under a Statute more
than 250 years old. There is no doubt that with the lapse of
time and the institution of more modern methods the process
of registering deeds and the making of searches could be
simplified to the advantage of all.
The registry officials were most helpful and certain progress
had been made in this direction but these small isolated efforts
should now be merged in the general programme oflaw reform
and our suggestions will be put to the minister in so far as
he has not already received them with a view to their being
embodied in the amending legislation which we are promised.
When announcing his White Paper the Minister mentioned
that many of our laws were antiquated and that we required a
system of law which reflected our traditions and ideals and
was conditioned to the social and economic circumstances of
the country. Particular asp_ects would be studied in a com
parative manner so that principles in other countries might
be adopted or adapted for our purposes.
One of the greatest handicaps of the practising lawyer in
this country is the lack of up to date text books. While a few
most valuable books have been published by Irish lawyers
over the years, in general the market is too small to make their
writing or publication economic. May I, therefore, appeal
to the minister, when drafting the various bills in his pro
gramme that where it is decided to adopt a principle of the
present law in Great Britain, he should adopt the identical
wording of the British Section so as to give us practitioners
the benefit of the British text books and of the judgments of
British Courts which, while in no way binding, would give us
an indication of how our courts might be expected to construe
a particular section—A distinction without a difference would
help no one.
TEXT BOOKS
I have referred to the lack of adequate text books on modern
statutes. Many practitioners would welcome a guide to new
legislation and the Council are arranging to publish a series
of booklets on recent statutes. To prepare a booklet on any
new Act requires considerable time and research and it is not
always easy to find people willing to undertake the task even
for a reasonable fee.
However, several booklets are in hand covering :
(1) Married Womans Status Act, 1957,
(2) Administration of Estates Act, 1959,
(3)
Statute of Limitations, 1957,
(4) Civil Liability Act, 1961 and
(5)
Stamp duties.
The booklets relating to the Stamp Duties and the Civil
Liabilities Act are with the printers and that relating to the
Married Womans Status Act is almost ready for the printers—
the others are all nearing completion.
Members will be able to buy the booklets in due course at
a modest price to cover the society's expenses—you will all
be informed as and when they are ready.
The council will hope to sponsor similar publications on
future legislation of general interest to members.
STAMP DUTIES
One of the greatest problems for the everyday practitioner
is to keep abreast of the ever-changing pattern of stamp duties.
The law on this subject has been changed consistently over the
years and it is now in such a maze that it is almost impossible
to folliow it and to avoid the traps into which one can quite
innocently fall. The Minister for Finance in his budget speech
stated that he was proposing to bring out a booklet on the
subject of stamp duties but I understand that this will merely
be a collection ofthe relevant provisions in one booklet which,
in itself, will be of considerable value to the profession but
will do nothing to clarify and simplify the system which is
now too utterly complicated. As I have mentioned, the council
hopes to publish a booklet on the subject soon which will
attempt to explain the effect of the law as it now stands.
I feel very strongly that the minister sacrificed a very great
principle when, in the Finance Act, 1961 for the first time
provision was made that further stamp duty could be payable
on a deed after it was marked adjudicated. The basic principle
of stamp duty law has always been that, where there was any
doubt or difficulty as to the amount of stamp duty payable on
a document, it could be lodged with the revenue commissioners
for adjudication and, once they had adjudicated on the
document and the appropriate stamp was impressed then the
stamp duty on that document could not be questioned.
The Finance Act, 1961 by Sections 33 and 34 itself provided
that in certain circumstances an instrument, even though
marked adjudicated or not, shall again be subject to further
stamp duty.
Anybody dealing with deeds or documents in connection
with title to property or otherwise should be entitled to know
with certainty that the deed or document before him has been
fully stamped. The Finance Act, 1961 is laying an impossible
and intolerable burden on the solicitor and, through him, on
the public at large and with the complexities of the law to-day
solicitors and their clients could find themselves liable for
stamp duties which neither had anticipated or contemplated.
I would earnestly appeal to those in authority not to sacrifice
principle to expediency and to re-instate the fundamental
principle on which stamp duty has been founded namely, that
once a document has been adjudged duly stamped, it is and
will remain duly stamped.
Surely if additional penalties
are to be imposed later for any reason they can be made
personal so as not to attach to the documents or to subsequent
innocent holders thereof.
LEGAL AID
You will have read in your papers of the introduction of the
Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Bill, 1961 and of its progress
through the Dail.
The council welcomes this provision of legal aid even if it
is only in a very limited form at the start. The bill itself is
by no means a complete document and much of the operation
of the scheme is being left to regulations to be made by the
minister under the Act when it becomes law. Until we see
these regulations we cannot give a considered opinion of
the scheme.
The administration of any legal aid scheme, be it civil or
criminal, should be in the hands of the profession as it is in
Great Britain. We have pressed the minister to give the law
society the administration of the scheme under the bill but he
has not seen his way to do it. He has indicated that the
present bill is only very limited and experimental and that
he considers it could best be administered in the way he has
provided.
We must emphasise that if the legal aid is to be extended
at all and if and when civil legal aid is introduced in this
country it is imperative that the administration should be