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Vol. 43
No. 10
April,
1950
THE GAZETTE
of the
INCORPORATED LAW SOC IETY OF IRELAND
President
Vise-Presidents
Secretary
W
illiam
J. N
orman
T
homas
A . O ’R
eilly
E
ric
A. P
lunkett
.
D
ermot
P. S
haw
FOR CIRCULATION AMONG MEMBERS
MEETINGS OF COUNCIL
23RD M
arch
: The President in the Chair. Also
present: Messrs. T. A. O’Reilly, Vice-President,
Dermot P. Shaw, Vice-President, William S. Hayes,
Francis J. Gearty, JohnDundon, James J. O Connor,
Desmond R. Counahan, J . Travers Wolfe, Henry
St. J. Blake, Derrick M. Martin, John Carrigan,
Niall S. Gaffney, John R. Halpin, Sean 6 hUadhaigh,
Louis E. O’Dea, Daniel O’Connell, G. A. Overend,
G. J. O’Donnell, Wm. S. Huggard, Reginald J.
Nolan, John J. Nash, Joseph P. Tyrrell.
The following was among the business transacted :
Costs o f debt collecting letters
T
he
opinion o f the Council was sought as to whether
a solicitor acting for a creditor should apply lor
payment by the debtor of the costs of the application
for the debt. The creditor was the employee o f an
institution and made a claim for holiday money
alleged to be due under the holidays (Employees)
Act, 1939. The claim was based on one day’s pay
in lieu o f holidays for each month since July 1949,
together with three days’ pay for the Christmas
holidays, making nine days’ pay, which, at the rate
of £ 13 0 per annum amounted to £3 4s. id. The
Secretary to the institution disputed the basis of
calculation on the claim, and subsequently the claim
was reduced to five days’ pay. The solicitor for the
creditor in agreeing to reduce the claim requested
payment of the amount due, together with one
guinea costs. In the Society’s Gazette for 1945, the
Council published the following opinion :—
“ The Council has recently considered the
practice of including demands for costs in
solicitor’s letters applying for payment of
debts before the institution o f proceedings.
The Council expressed the opinion that the
practice, in so far as it now exists, should be
discontinued. The opinion o f the Council is
limited to applications for immediate payijient of
liquidated debts, within the meaning o f the
term in Allen v. O’Callaghan (10 I.L.T .R . 13 1).”
The Council expressed the opinion that on the
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