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“
Assents by Personal Representatives
in their own favour.”
The Solicitor.
April
—“
The Irrevocable Authority
o f Agents.”
The Solicitors’ Journal,
April 7th—“ Liability o f Minis
try o f Health for negligence
o f Hospital Staffs.”
“ Without Prejudice.” “ Repu
diation and Public Bodies.”
April 14th—•“ Illegal Premiums
Paid to Agents.”
“ The
Teaching o f Equity.”
April 21 st—“ A Mechanised
Accounting
System
for
Solicitors.”
April 28th—•“ Sale o f Business
to a Company.”
Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly,
November, 1950—
“ Notice and Registration.”
TheModernLaw Review,
April, 1951
—“
Some Aspects
o f Mutual Wills.”
“ The Right to
Rescind for Breach o f Condition in a
Sale o f Specific Goods under the Sale of
Goods Act, 1893.” “ A Ramble with
Res Ipsa Loquitur.”
STAMP DUTIES
Mr. McGilligan’s Budget Speech
I
n
my Budget Speech last year
I
referred to the
5 per cent, stamp duty imposed by the Finance
(No. 2) Act, 1947, on transfers or leases o f houses
and lands. I expressed regret that I was unable
to propose any alteration in the incidence o f the
duty but undertook that the matter would be
reviewed again before the next Budget. Deputies
may recall, incidentally, that sub-section (6) of
Section 6 o f the Housing (Amendment) Act,
I
95
°—which was passed in August, after the Finance
Act—provided for a reduction o f the stamp duty
rate from 5 per cent, to 1 per cent, in connection
with any transfer or lease o f a house qualifying
for a grant on first sale under the main provisions
of the same section.
I now propose, as regards the types o f case still
affected by the 5 per cent, duty, that that rate should
be reduced to 3 per cent, o f the amount or value
of the consideration.
A minor point arises in this connection. Where
the amount or value o f the consideration exceeds
£500 and does not exceed £1,000 the existing law
provides a graduated scale finishing on the note
that, where the amount or value is £1,000 but not
more, the duty chargeable is £50—in other words,
at the rate o f 5 per cent. This graduated scale will
require consequential amendment so that it will
go up, not to 5 per cent., but to 3 per cent.
Provision for these changes will appear in the
Finance Bill and they will come into effect on the
1st August next or the date o f the passing o f the
Finance Act, whichever is the later day.
It is
estimated that, this year, the cost o f bringing down
the rate as proposed will run to £233,000. I am not
proposing this year any alteration in the 25 per
cent. rate.
The Finance Act, 1947, doubled the stamp
duties chargeable under the First Schedule to the
Finance Act, 1891, on conveyances or transfers
o f stocks or marketable securities. The doubling
of the duties meant an increase in the rate from
1 per cent, to 2 per cent. I now propose that the
rate o f duty should be reduced to its original 1 per
cent., as regards conveyances or transfers of any
stock or marketable security issued, whether before
or after the passing o f the Finance Act, by an Irish
company. This relief will operate as on and from
the 1 st August next, or should it occur later, the
date o f the passing of the Finance Act.
It has been represented strongly to me that, if
a reduction were effected as now proposed, it
would give a notable impetus to investment in
Irish securities generally and would improve the
market for new issues. I am, therefore, taking this
step in the hope that it will add to the attractiveness
o f Irish securities and encourage Irish investors
to invest their capital in them rather than outside
the country.
I should, perhaps, stress that this relief will not
affect transfers of shares in external companies,
except in a limited field for which it is considered
desirable to make special provision. As regards
external companies, the reduction in the rate will
apply only where shares are transferred on branch
registers established by such companies in this
country.
The relief will cost roughly £25,000 this year.
—(Parliamentary Debates)
RESOLUTION No. 5.—RATES OF
ESTATE DUTY
M
r
. M
c
G
illigan
: I move—
That, in the case o f persons dying after the 2nd
day of May, 1951, the scale set out in the Schedule
to this Resolution shall be, and shall have effect
as, the scale o f rates o f estate duty in lieu o f the
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