The Gazette 1980

GAZETTE

APRIL 1980

BOOK REVIEWS

A Report on the Law and Procedures regarding the

Prosecution and Disposal of Young Offenders. By

Denis C. Mitchell. The Stationery Office, Price £1.00.

This report by Mr. Denis Mitchell was commissioned by

the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and was

published in October 1977. It is a most useful reference

book for practitioners as it clearly sets out the manner in

which the Courts may deal with children, from the ages of

seven to fifteen; young persons from the ages of fifteen to

seventeen and finally juvenile offenders from the ages of

seventeen to twenty-one.

The Children's Act 1908 together with the Children

Act 1941 are the main Statutes in which most of the law

is contained. But certainly the 1908 Act covers so many

pther matters relating to children and young persons that

} is a most unwieldly Statute to come to grips with and

indeed to find the particular information one requires

from it. The author manages to condense a lot of relevant

information into this brief manual.

On the age of criminal responsibility, we are told that

the Kennedy Report 1970 recommended that the age of

criminal responsibility should be increased from seven

years to twelve. In Great Britain the Children and Young

Persons Act 1969 raised the age to fourteen except in

homicide cases. In Ireland children between the ages of

seven and fourteen, that is under fifteen, are presumed

incapable of crime (Doli incapax) but this is a rebuttable

presumption. The issue is even more confused by the fact

that the 1908 Act, Section 131, as amended by the 1941

Act, Section 29 (1), defines a child as a person under

fifteen, but as far as principles of responsibility are

concerned, one is dealing with the seven to fourteen age

group. Mr. Mitchell points out that as the 1941 Act

raised the legal age of a child to fifteen the doli incapax

Presumption should now apply to seven to fifteen year

olds. Unfortunately it appears that lawyers in Ireland do

not very often argue the issue of doli incapax when

representing this age group.

Persons under fifteen cannot be imprisoned and indeed

there has been case law in Ireland on that subject, but

they may however be sent to an institution not being a

Prison.

The section of the book dealing with options open to

the Court for seven to fifteen year olds gives a brief

explanation of each method. If quotes from the Kennedy

Report that the "fit person order" whereby the Court is

empowered to commit a child to the care of a relative or

friend had not at least in 1970 been used by the Children

ou rt for many years. One wonders if in the following

seven years this procedure has been used more often, but

nfortunately no comment is made by the author.

Young persons, that is those between the ages of fifteen

nd seventeen can be imprisoned and in certain circum-

stances sent to St. Patrick's Institution. Juvenile

offenders, those between seventeen and twenty-one, may

he sent to St. Patrick's instead of prison, and in extreme

cases a sixteen year old may be sent to St. Patrick's.

Shanganagh Castle and Loughan House are institutions

for males of this group also, but it should be noted that a

female offender between seventeen and twenty-one if she

is to be sent for a custodial sentence must be imprisoned

in Mountjoy or Limerick prisons.

I would recommend that this report should be read by

lawyers, social workers and probation officers dealing

with young persons and the law, as it concisely and clearly

sets out the powers and limitations of the Court. My only

criticism would be that I would like to have heard more

from the author about possible areas of reform and about

how the law operates in practice in the Courts, but

perhaps that is not what he was commissioned to do.

Barbara Hussey

J.C.W. Wylie —

Irish Conveyancing Law.

Professional

Books Limited 1978.

This is a twin volume to Irish Land Law written by the

same learned Author (who is reader in law at University

College, Cardiff) and again with the Hon. Mr. Justice

Kenny, Judge of the Supreme Court of the Republic of

Ireland acting as Consultant Editor.

Irish Conveyancing Law deals comprehensively, but in

a most readable manner, with the Law and Practice of

Conveyancing in Ireland. It is so set out that each page

has copious footnotes giving legal authority for the

statements and conclusions reached in the text. It is

therefore both casual reading for the Practitioner anxious

to up-date (or re-educate) himself, as well as an invaluable

reference (with the relevant Authorities readily available)

in the event of pending of threatened legal strife arising in

the course of any conveyancing transaction.

This book deals comprehensively with both The Law

Society's Contract for Sale and Requisitions on Title and

sets out in detail the legal position of Vendor and

Purchaser and their respective Solicitors. The thorny

question of pre Contract Requisitions, and their validity

(as well as their suitability) in the Republic of Ireland, is

examined and discussed.

The Book has a total of 921 pages (including an

invaluable Index) and to my mind is essential reading for

the Conveyancing Preacitioner, experienced or otherwise.

A comprehensive, knowledge of Conveyancing Law and

Practice is generally obtained from text books and

lectures in the first instance and subsequently from

experience in practice. Very often by the time a

Practitioner becomes an experienced Conveyancer, the

theory is long forgotten. Also legislation is enacted from

time to time effecting material changes in the law and

practice of Conveyancing. This book codifies both the

existing theory and practice of Conveyancing in Ireland

and in so doing provides an invaluable and necessary aid

to those Solicitors who would regard themselves as

experienced Conveyancers while at the same time giving

the less experienced members of the profession the

benefits of experience gained by others in the Practice of

the Law of Conveyancing.