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and the reputation o f the profession as a whole.
For these reasons the Council are disappointed that
the Bill is making such slow progress towards the
Statute Book. Everything that the Council could
do to expedite its progress has been done, and
continual representations have been made to the
Department. It is now seven years since the Draft
was first submitted and every aspect o f the Bill has
been thoroughly discussed. We see no reason why
there should be any further delay. It is not a contro
versial measure, and much o f the Bill is a repetition
o f the provisions o f the Solicitors (Ireland) Act,
1898. It is to be hoped that the authorities will
take steps to see that the Bill is introduced in the
near future.
L
egal
T
ext
-
books
:
My predecessors have referred in their half-
yearly addresses at this meeting to the crying need
for the provision o f text-books for law students,
and for standard works o f reference for use by
practitioners. As the years go by changes in the
law make the books which are published in England
unsuitable for use in this country. To a large
extent our law has stood still since 1923, and we
rely on the standard books which wxre published
prior to that year. These books are now out of
print and the available copies are gradually dis
appearing. The result is that solicitors’ apprentices
are unable to obtain copies o f the books which are
prescribed on the syllabus for the Society’s examin
ations. The Society has tried to improvise a remedy
by buying up as many of these books as possible
and lending them out to students studying for the
final examinations, but this is not a satisfactory
position, and students should be able to purchase
the books for themselves. Each apprentice pays
the sum o f £80 to the Government in stamp duty
on his Indentures o f Apprenticeship. The Council
has asked the Government to pay this stamp duty
to the Society to be used for setting up a fund for
the purpose o f financing legal education, including
the publication o f students’ text-books and works
o f reference. The Minister for Finance was, I
think, favourably impressed with the suggestion.
It would provide a fund amounting to some thous
ands per annum out o f which it would be possible
to have a number o f the older works re-published,
and to have new works written. Unless some steps
are taken to finance the publication of new books,
legal studies in this country will, in due course,
come to a standstill.
D
elays
in
G
overnment
D
epartments
:
The Society continues to receive complaints
about delays in various Government Departments,
particularly in the Land Registry, where the position
has become so bad as to amount almost to a break
down in the system. Complaints received by this
Society showed that in some cases the registration
o f dealings was not completed for over 12 months
after the documents had been lodged.
Repre
sentations have been made by the Society over a
number o f years to the appropriate Departments,
but no improvement has taken place up to the
present. The matter affects the profession in so far
as clients whose interests are suffering through the
delay fail to understand that the fault does not lie
with their solicitors, and sometimes they write to
this Society complaining as if the solicitor had been
guilty o f misconduct in not having their work
carried out. It is not right that solicitors should
be placed in this position and the Council are con
sidering what further steps can be taken to deal
with the matter.
S
mall
D
wellings
A
cquisition
A
cts
.
The Housing Amendment Act, 1950, will probably
give rise to an increased number o f applications for
loans from local authorities for the leasing and
purchase o f sites, and the erection o f dwelling
houses. Section 34 o f the Act contains a provision
which will enable the local authorities to add the
cost o f acquiring the site and the cost o f the lease to
the value o f the house for the purpose o f the advance.
Complaints have been made about the heavy inci
dence o f the costs. In some cases the tenant has
been required to pay the costs o f the lessor, as well
as his own costs in connection with the leasing of
the site, and in addition to this he is liable for the
costs o f the local authorities in connection with the
mortgage. A deputation from the Council went to
the Department o f Local Government and made
suggesti°ns with a view to easing the position. It
was suggested in the first place that section 34 of
the Housing Amendment Act, 1950, should be put
into operation, and that the local authorities should
advance the costs and stamp duty and disbursements
in connection with the acquiring o f the site and the
mortgage in addition to the price.
The
deputation informed the Minister that if this were
done the Society would consider recommending a
sliding scale o f costs in certain cases to be adopted
by solicitors acting for the local authorities in con
nection with the mortgages. The Department were
to put forward proposals on the matter, but so far
we have not received them, and until we receive
them nothing further can be done.
I
nsurance
against
negligence
by
S
olicitors
:
The Waterford Law Society put up a proposal to
the Council that this Society should form a Company,