59 / 114
DECEMBER, 1910]
The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.
159
concurrence of the Recorder and after con
sultation with the President of the Incor
porated Law Society, might make orders and
rules for regulating various matters, both of
law and procedure, which are set out in the
Bill in the Civil Bill Courts of the City and
County of Dublin. This Bill had the same
fate as its predecessors, and did not get
beyond a first reading.
A Bill in the same terms exactly was
again
introduced
by Mr. Clancy, K.C.,
M.P.,
in the month of July last and has
been
read a second time.
The Council
of
this Society
could
not
approve
of
this Bill. They are of opinion that an Act
of Parliament intended
to
effect drastic
changes in law and procedure should itself
contain and enact the new provisions which
it is proposed to make. They consider that
legislation which deputes to a rule-making
authority the power practically to legislate
is entirely unsatisfactory. They also con
sider that in all such Acts of Parliament which
provide for the making of rules, the President
for the time being of this Society should be
named as a member of the rule-making
authority and not as a person only to be
consulted in reference to the rules. The
experience
the Council have had of
the
working of Acts which provide
for
the
President being only a consultant party are
highly unsatisfactory.
Early in this year the Council received
from the Dublin County Court Bar Asso
ciation
a Draft Bill
for
the
purpose
of amending the procedure of the Dublin
Civil Bill Courts, and having considered
the matter
(as
stated
in
the Report),
came to the conclusion that any Bill to be
promoted by the Society for remedying
defects in County Court procedure should
be made applicable not alone to Dublin, but
the whole of Ireland. A demand for such
amendments had been made by all the great
commercial bodies, who complained most
bitterly of the difficulty of recovering, debts
in the County Courts, and of the delays
attendant on the issue of decrees and in
having them realised when obtained.
The Council, therefore,with a view to having
these grievances redressed as far as possible,
took into consideration the whole question of
the amendments required in thejpresent law
affecting the working of the County Courts
in Ireland, and prepared a Draft Bill which
they believe, if passed into law, will render
proceedings in the County Courts much more
effectual than heretofore, and enable decrees
to be issued and levied more rapidly. The
Bill provides, amongst other things :—
For the attachment of debts due to debtors.
For the obtaining of interpleader orders
and orders on Sheriffs to make returns to
decrees.
Enforcement of instalment orders.
That decrees shall remain in force for two
years without renewal.
That the time for appeal shall run from
six days
from actual pronouncement of
decisions, etc.
The provision limiting the time for appeal
is a most important one, as it will enable
decrees to be issued all through the Sessions
and without the necessity of waiting, as at
present, to issue the decrees after the end of
the
long Sessions. The Draft Bill,
as
prepared by the Council, was submitted for
approval to the Dublin Chamber of Com
merce,
the Northern and Southern Law
Societies,
the Dublin County Courts Bar
Association, the General Council of the Bar
of Ireland, and others, and has been approved
of by all these bodies.
The Bill is promoted altogether in the
interests of
the Public,
and by
it an
effort has
been made
to meet most
of the objections and suggestions from time
to time put forward by the Commercial
community in reference to County Court
procedure.
It has occupied the attention of
the Council for a considerable portion of this
year, and was discussed at nine meetings of
the Committee specially appointed for the
purpose and which comprised most of the
leading County Court practitioners.
The
Bill, as so settled and approved of, was
introduced in the House of Commons on the
18th of November, by Mr. P. J. Brady, M.P.
—who, we are pleased to see, has been
elected
a
member
of
the
Council
(applause)—supported by Mr. Maurice Healy,
Mr. Kelly and Mr. Horner, K.C., and we
sincerely trust that it may be adopted as a
Government measure and in due time find
its way to the Statute Book, and that thus
the long sought for amendments, which it is