The Gazette 1961

Terence Doyle and Son) appeared for the defendant.

Mr. Raymond O'Neill, s.c. (instructed by Messrs. D.

& T. Fitzgerald) held a watching brief on behalf of

the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

CIVIL LIABILITY ACT, 1961

The Bill became law on the I4th of August, 1961.

The main provisions of the Act, some of which are

a re-enactment of the existing law, are as follows :

1. The term wrong includes breach of contract

and breach of trust in addition to the common

meaning of tort heretofore accepted and concurrent

wrong means a wrong done by two or more parties

causing the same injury to the injured party.

2. Concurrent wrongdoers will each be liable for

the whole of the damage which they caused to the

injured party and may be sued either together or

separately. If they are sued together the effect of any

judgment given by the Court will be to make each

of the defendants

liable separately for the full

amount of the plaintiff's damages. The damages in

such case may be apportioned between the defendants

by the jury but apparently only by the express or

implied agreement of the plaintiff.

3. The common law distinctions between joint

and several concurrent tortfeasors, whereby a release

to one joint tortfeasor discharges all and whereby

one joint tortfeasor making satisfaction and has no

right of contribution against the others, will be

abolished and in fact the terminology and law relating

to joint tortfeasors will be replaced by the proposed

statutory provisions regarding concurrent wrong–

doers.

A concurrent wrongdoer who makes

satisfaction either by settlement or as the result of a

judgment of a Court to the injured party will have a

right of contribution against the other concurrent

wrongdoers either by joining them in the action as

third parties or by separate proceedings but the bill

makes provision to encourage the enforcement of the

right of contribution by the third party procedure

rather than by separate proceedings.

4. The present common law regarding contribu–

tory negligence is being amended or rather abolished.

A new statutory rule is to be substituted whereby on

proof by the defendant that the damage suffered by

the plaintiff was caused partly by the plaintiff's

negligence the damages are to be reduced by such

an amount as the Court thinks just. The plaintiff's

action will not be dismissed, as under the present

rules, but the damages will be reduced rateably in

proportion to his own negligence.

5. The present common law rules which stop a

civil action in tort because the facts alleged disclose

a felony on the part of the defendant unless criminal

proceedings are instituted, are being abolished.

6. Subject to specified exceptions, all causes of

action of any person survive on his death for the

benefit of his estate and all causes of action subsisting

against him survive against his estate.

7. A person who causes the death of another by his

wrongful act is liable to an action for damages for

the benefit of the dependants ofthe deceased and the

Minister for Finance will be liable to an action for

damages for the death of any person caused by the

negligent driving of a mechanically propelled vehicle

belonging to the state.

The bill is extremely technical and complicated.

is published

together with an explanatory

memorandum of 78 pages issued by the Department

of Justice. The explanatory memorandum, amended

to include any changes made on the Special Com–

mittee stage of the bill, is now on sale at the

Government Publications Sales Office, price i/-.

The Bill as passed by both Houses is available at

2s. 6d per copy.

ROAD TRAFFIC ACT, 1961

The Road Traffic Act, 1961, will come into

operation on a date to be fixed by order of the

Minister for Local Government.

It is a compre–

hensive measure dealing with the entire road traffic

code and the Act of 1933 is completely repealed.

Section 7 of the Fatal Injuries Act is also repealed,

and

its provisions are

re-enacted, with some

variation, by Section 116 of the new Act. Many of

the provisions of the 1933 Act are re-enacted with

little or no variation, but there are certain important

additions and amendments.

The attention of

practitioners is particularly drawn to the following

Sections:

Section 53, dealing with the offence of dangerous

driving, where it is provided that a contravention

of the section resulting in death or serious bodily

harm shall make the defendant liable on conviction

to penal servitude for 5 years or a fine of £500 or

both sentence and fine.

Section 55, which creates the new offence of

parking a vehicle in a dangerous position.

Section 107, which deals with the duty to give

information to a member of the Garda Siochana

and which has a very much wider scope than

Section 177 of the 1933 Act. Under Section 107 of

the new Act, a guard may, if he has reasonable