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securities is frequently delayed for over two months,
due to delays in issuing Grants of Probate or
Administration, registration of which is, o f course,
necessary to free securities registered in deceased
client’s names. It is only proper that the public
as a whole should appreciate the reason for the
delay and losses referred to. The Minister acknow
ledged that there had been delays in recent months
but undertook to have the matter speedily examined
with a view to introducing improvements, and I
have no doubt that he will do so.
L
aw
R
eform
:
In my address, in May last, I referred to the
Company Law Reform Committee, on which
Committee we are represented by Mr. Overend
and Mr. Cox, and to Law Reform generally. The
latter is being dealt with, I understand, by a section
of the Attorney General’s Office dedicated to this
task. I should like to have been in a position to
tell you something o f the activities of these two
bodies but unfortunately no information has yet
been received by the Council as to their activities.
It was, indeed, refreshing during my recent
visit to the United States to find a new Law Centre
opened by New York University dedicated to
legal research, for the purpose of Law Reform.
In New York the-view is taken that the ordinary
practitioner is too busy to give adequate time to
the necessary research, the sections of Government
are too narrow in concept to give adequate treatment
and that the matter is one primarily for the
Universities, where students, post-graduate and
otherwise, are used for the purposes o f the necessary
research preliminary to formulating proposals
subsequently to be considered and approved at
higher level. It may well be that the law schools
of Dublin University and University College,
Dublin and the law student o f the K ing’s Inns and
our own apprentices could be utilised to do a useful
amount o f spade-work for the Law Reform Com
mittees and at the same time improve their own
legal education. This Society would like to see a
more widely based approach to the reform of
outmoded laws and the codification o f existing
legislation—it is a pressing matter but this Society
is powerless in the matter.
S
olicitors
’ R
emuneration
:
In my last speech I referred to the very un
satisfactory position of solicitors’ remuneration.
I hope that I can tell you with confidence that
better rimes lie ahead. As the matter is still
subjudice
I feel I cannot say more, but New Year, even
though Leap Year, may bring fresh hope to
even
those of us who are securely wed.
C
entenary
Y
ear
:
Next year will also mark the centenary o f this
Society.
A Committee is considering whether
celebrations should be held to mark the event.
I f the Council approves the Committee’ s views
and it is found possible to hold appropriate
celebrations I hope that the fullest possible support
will be given by the profession.
S
uperior
C
ourts
R
ules
C
ommittee
:
Under the Courts o f Justice Act, 1936 the
President for the time being is
ex-officio
a member
o f this Committee which devotes its time to the
making and altering o f Rules o f Court. My year
o f service on this Committee has brought home
to me, forcibly, the impossibility o f this Society,
or the President, making any really useful con
tribution to the work of the Committee.
The
President is only a member for the year. It takes
him some little time to acclimatise himself to the
workings of the Committee and just as soon as
he is sufficiently
au fait
to start making a worth
while contribution his year o f office expires and a
new President finds himself in a similar predicament.
As you will appreciate many o f the Rules concern
points o f practice and solicitors rather than Barristers
ought to have a special knowledge o f procedure,
as carrying through an action in its preliminary
stages and up to trial and the office work connected
therewith, are primarily matters for solicitors.
The Bar is primarily concerned with what happens
at trial, whereas solicitors are concerned with
pre-trial procedure, and the impact of a complicated
system of procedure is felt by the solicitor in his
office expenses and by the public in the delays of
reaching trial.
I personally think it is most important that the
profession should be represented permanently on
the Committee by at least two solicitors with a
detailed knowledge and experience o f Court
procedure and I would like to see the Society
apply for an appropriate amendment in the Courts
of Justice Act, 1936, to bring this about.
R
elations
with
the
B
ar
:
As you would expect our relations with our
cousins at the Bar are excellent in every respect.
There is a matter, although a delicate one, to which
I feel I should refer, having regard to the degree
of interest which now exists in the solicitors’
profession on this subject.
Not so very long ago it was possible to conduct
a High Court action with a Junior and Senior
Counsel. Nowadays what amounts to an invariable
practice has grown up o f retaining two Senior
Counsel in almost every case. Solicitors are finding
5°