33 / 144
MK. WILLIAM TALBOT PHIBBS, Solicitor, died on
1st October, 1944. at his residence, Quay Street,
Sligo.
Mr. Phibbs served his apprenticeship with the
late Mr. John R. Lloyd, Dublin, was admitted
in Hilary Sittings, 1903, and practised at Sligo
under the style of Argue and Phibbs.
MR. WILLIAM IRELAND GOOD, Solicitor, died on
4th October, 1944, in England.
Mr. Good served his apprenticeship with the
late Mr. Thomas C. Franks, Dublin, was admitted
in Hilary Sittings, 1898, and practised with
Mr. Edwin N. Edwards under the style of Edwards
and Good, at 12 Molesworth Street, Dublin, until
1917, when he retired.
Mn. WILLIAM HUNTER. Solicitor, died on 17th
October,
1944, at his
residence, Baymount,
Sutton, Co. Dublin.
Mr. Hunter was admitted in Trinity Sittings,
1892, and practised under the style of Hunter
& Burland at 11, Dame Street, Dublin.
MR. HENRY F. BRENAN, Solicitor, died on 25th
October, 1944, at his residence, The Bungalow,
Tullamore.
Mr. Brenan served his apprenticeship with the
late Mr. Richard A. Macnamara, Dublin, was
admitted
in Michaelmas Sittings,
1907,
and
practised as partner of the firm of Hoey &
Denning of Dublin and Tullamore.
CURRENT TOPICS.
Wise Drafting.
THE case of Dickinson v. St. Aubyn (1944 1
K.B. 454) is a good illustration of the unforeseen
consequences which may attend the unwise
practice of using several different terms through
out a lease or other similar document to express
a single meaning, when the same result can be
achieved more simply, if less elegantly, by the
use of
identical expressions
throughout
the
instrument. In the case referred to landlords had
granted to a tenant a lease of premises for the
term of seven years containing a proviso entitling
the tenant to terminate the tenancy at the end
of the fifth year. The lease also contained the
usual covenant by the tenant to keep the prem
ises in good repair and condition and to deliver
up the premises in the like repair and condition
at the end or sooner determination of "the
tenancy." The tenant furthei undertook to paint
the interior of the premises "in the last quarter
of the said term." The tenant having elected to
terminate the lease at the end of the fifth year
the question arose as to whether the expression
"the last quarter of the said term" in the painting
covenant should be construed as applying only
to the term of seven years created by the lease or
whether it was also referable to the substituted
term of five years arising from the exercise by the
tenant of his option to determine. The landlords
contended that the expression "term" in the
painting covenant included the abbreviated term
of five years and were upheld by the English
High Court. This decision was reversed by the
Court of Appeal. Lord Justice Goddard referred
to the use of the expression "tenancy" in the
repairing covenant which clearly referred to the
period of the term, whether it was five or seven
years, and the words "the said term" in the
painting covenant which could only mean the
term of seven yeais in the habendum. If, he said,
parties to a lease use in one covenant an expression
which shows that they have in mind obligations
to arise at the end of the tenancy, whether that
be at the end of one period or of another, according
as to whether or not the tenant exercises an option
which is given to him, and in the next covenant
they use an expression which
prima facie
applies
only to the full term created by the lease, the
proper rule of construction to apply is that they
mean something different in the two covenants.
It was held, accordingly, that as the lease had
been terminated before the expiration of the
term indicated by the painting covenant that
covenant had not come into operation against
the tenant.
.Lei
TEv
tter "Without Prejudice".
EVERY practising solicitor knows the amount
of time spent by the profession in endeavouring
to persuade clients to avoid litigation, or having
become involved in it to settle their differences
by compromise without recourse to the final
process of law. One of the most familiar and
valuable methods of smoothing the obstacles in
the way of settling litigation is the letter written
"without prejudice"
in
the knowledge
that
admissions and disclosures contained
therein
will not be used in evidence against the writer.
29