99 / 244
November,
1950
THE GAZETTE
of the
I
l
NCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND
President
W
illiam
J.
N
orman
Vice-Presidents
T
homas
A . O ’R
eilly
D
ermot
P.
S
haw
Secretary
E
ric
A.
P
lunkett
.
FOR CIRCULATION AMONG MEMBERS
MR. WILLIAM S. HAYES
W
e
have to record with deep regret the death of
Mr. William S. Hayes, which occurred in Parkna-
silla, where he was on holiday, on August 20th.
William Samuel Hayes was born on 4th December,
1862. He was a son o f a solicitor, Mr. William
Hayes, who had been admitted in 1840, and practised
at 31 Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin, and on 1st
May, 1879, he was bound as an apprentice to his
father. He headed the list o f successful candidates
at the final examinations in 1884, and was awarded
a Gold Medal and the Findlater Scholarship. Fie
was admitted in Trinity Sittings, 1884, and from
that time until his death he was associated with the
firm of Playes & Sons, of which for the greater part
of his life he was senior partner.
The late Mr. Hayes belonged to a generation of
solicitors which has few survivors. It can safely
be said that in the history o f the Society since its
foundation in 1841 there was no more outstanding
figure. His position as a leader o f the profession
is indicated by the fact that when he was first elected
to the Council in November, 1892, he was under 30
years o f age. He served on the Council from that
time until his death in 1950, and during that long
period he was re-elected anually, for many years at
the head o f the poll, or close to it. He served as
Vice-President in 1897/98, and as President in
1906/07. In his exertions for the advantage of the
profession he was untiring. The Solicitors (Ire
land) Bill, 1898, was introduced when he was Vice-
President, and on his shoulders fell much o f the
work connected with its passage into law. In 1906,
when he was President, he took the lead in starting
the Society’s
G
azette
,
a publication which, although
necessarily limited in scope, served a need which
had become felt with the growth in the Society’s
functions since 1898. Fie was called as a witness
to give evidence as to the professional custom and
usage between Irish and English solicitors in the
case o f Porter v. Kirtlan, which is the leading
authority on that subject. At the end of his life he
was closely associated as a member of the Council
*7