The Gazette 1961

Ireland has'taken a leading part in implementing

the machinery of the Convention. It has extended

to its citizens the right of individual petition to -the

Human Rights Commission, and was

the first

country to agree to accept the jurisdiction of the

proposed European Court of Human Rights, which

came into operation when the necessary minimum

of eight countries was reached.

The supplement will serve as a useful introduction

to the Convention, and can be had on request from

the National Correspondent of the Directorate of

Information, Council of Europe. His address is

42 Dawson Street, Dublin.

DECISIONS OF PROFESSIONAL

INTEREST

Confidential report on a minor not disclosed to one of the

parties in a wardship matter

In a case reported under the above heading in the

June, 1963 issue of the GAZETTE at page 15 it was

held by the Court of Appeal in England that a

confidential report of the official solicitor should be

made available to the mother of the minor, the

subject of the report, in wardship proceedings. This

decision has now been reversed by the House of

Lords. Lord Evershed giving the judgment of the

Court said that there could not be an absolute right

on the mother's part in this case to see the official

solicitor's report. The judicial proceedings in this

case were for the benefit of the infant and for the

purpose of making a decision about his or her

immediate future upbringing or control. For such

a purpose the infant was in relation to the Court in

a special position distinct from that of the other

parties for he or she was a ward of the Court

exercising

the ancient prerogative of parental

jurisdiction. If this were the case, then it could not

be right that the Court was always compelled in

circumstances such as had arisen here to choose the

lesser of two evils and to do that which in the

Court's view would be against the infant's interest

and to console itself in so doing by regarding the

result as a distressing consequence of a broken home.

In conclusion His Lordship observed that the sub

mitting of confidential reports as a general practise

was not to be recommended but only in those

circumstances when the official solicitor felt strongly

that the information which he had obtained should

be submitted confidentially.

(Official Solicitor

K. (Infants) & Another,

Solicitors' Journal,

August

and, page 617.)

Possessory title—whether offer to purchase is an acknowledg

ment of title

In 1947 the plaintiff occupied a vacant bomb site

which he used for car parking and other purposes,

and he erected a fence around it. He remained

there until September, 1961, when the defendants

as weekly tenants of the freeholders entered on the

site. The plaintiff brought an action against them

for trespass. In 1954 he had written two letters to

the freeholders offering to purchase the property.

It was held by the trial judge and also by the Court

of Appeal upholding him that the offer in writing

by the plaintiff to the freeholders to buy the property

constituted an acknowledgement and his action was

dismissed. In the Court of Appeal it was said that

.what constituted an acknowledgment of title in any

particular case depended on the proper construction

of the document in question and all the surrounding

circumstances. Although the plaintiff had not, by

offering to purchase the property, acknowledged

that the vendors had a marketable title to it, what

he had acknowledged was that, as between himself

and them, they had the better title, and that seemed

to be all that was required. (Edginton

Clarke &

Anor.

Solicitors' Journal,

August 2nd, page 617.)

Fatal injuries claim—subsequent re-marriage

In June, 1959, C., aged 22, was killed in a collision

between a motor bicycle which he was riding and

a motor-car.

C.'s widow brought an action for

damages under the Fatal Accidents Act, 1846, and

the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act,

1934, against the executors of the driver of the

motor-car. The action was heard in January, 1962,

when the widow, who had no children, was aged 24.

The trial judge found that C. was one-third to blame

for the accident, that the amount by which the

widow would have been likely to benefit in the

future was £6 a week, and assessed the damages at

£4,000, saying that the widow was a presentable

young lady who would have opportunities, if she

were so minded, of re-marriage and that it was right

to make some real diminution in the amount of

damages awarded because of that factor. Owing to

the fact that she had broken down when giving

evidence at the trial, the widow had not been asked

about the possibility of re-marriage. In March, 1962

before the expirty of the time for giving notice of

appeal, she re-married. On appeal by the defendants

against the amount of damages awarded, they sought

leave under R.S.C, Ord. 58, r. 9 (2), to adduce

evidence of the widow's re-marriage on the ground

that if it was granted they would contend that, by

her re-marriage, the widow had not lost the financial

support assessed by the judge.

The defendants

tendered no evidence as to the amount by which the

re-marriage was benefiting the widow.

HELD :

the appeal would be allowed and the

amount of damages awarded reduced because where,

as here, the re-marriage occurred soon after the trial,