The Gazette 1991

g a z e t t e

may 1991

this

Issue

Viewpoint

139

Role of the Actuary in the

assessment of damages 141

Younger Members News

1 53

People & Places

154

SADSI - mixed soccer

1 56

Title to Land in Hony Kong

- A brief review with

reference to the relevance

of Irish Law

Conveyancing Handbook

1 59

The Future of the Land Registry

and Registry of Deeds

160

Book Reviews

163

Lawbrief

165

Professional Information

169

Executive Editor:

Mary Gaynor

Committee:

Eamonn G. Hall, Chairman

Michael V. O'Mahony, Vice-Chairman

John F. Buckley

Patrick McMahon

Advertising:

Seán Ó hOisín. Telephone: 305236

Fax: 307860

Printing:

Turner's Printing Co. Ltd., Longford.

The views expressed in this publication,

save where otherwise indicated, are the

views of the contributors and not

necessarily the views of the Council of the

Society.

The appearance of an advertisement in this

publication does not necessarily indicate

approval by the Society for the product or

service advertised.

Published at Blackhall Place, Dublin 7.

Tel.: 710711.

Telex: 31219.

Fax: 710704.

GAZETT

INCORPORATE D

LAWSOCIET Y

OF IRELAND

Vol.

No .

4May

199 1

Viewpoint

It is to be hoped that the enthusiasm

being expressed by the Minister for

Industry & Commerce about the

new Competition Bill will be

matched by equal enthusiasm for its

application, particularly in the area of

Semi-State or other State sponsored

bodies. Many of the monopolies or

dominant positions in the Irish

economy are held by such bodies.

Originally their existence was

justified by the absence of

participation by the private sector in

the provision of the products or

services concerned. Without

encouraging

Thatcherite

privatisation campaign there is

clearly room for competition in areas

wh i ch have previously been

dominated by the State sector.

While the removal of the

cumbersome Restrictive Practices

Acts procedures with their lengthy

enquiries and largely unimplemented

reports is to be welcomed, concern

must be expressed about the

statement in the explanatory

memorandum of the Bill that

"existing orders made under the

Restrictive Practice Acts will be

revoked". Hopefully this means that

they will be revoked on a phased

basis for the procedures envisaged

in the new Bill, welcome though they

are, including as they do, recourse to

the Courts, cannot of their nature be

instantaneous in operation. It would

be highly unsatisfactory if any sector

which has been the subject of a

Restrictive Practices Order were

to be freed from restriction until

such time as the procedures under

the new legislation can be invoked.

For the solicitors' profession there

is a delicious irony in the enthusiasm

the

Minister

for

the

encouragement of competition and

in particular price competition. The

only legally enforceable price

regulation of solicitors' fees is the

statutory one governing conveyanc-

ing fees. Not many solicitors will be

sorry to see the abolition of the scale

fee which has become increasingly

irrelevant to the cost of the provision

of the services covered by it. Price

competition in the residential market,

in Dublin at least, has been a factor

for many years and in recent years

price competition has entered the

major commercial lending market

also. Meeting the balance of paying

a reasonable price and getting a

reasonable service may be difficult

to achieva We would not need

consumer protection legislation if all

out competition were to be desirabla

The Minister has expressed res-

ervations about Law Society or local

Bar Association recommended

scales of charges. If the Minister

wants to ensure that the client is

given a reasonable indication of the

likely charges before a legal trans-

action is commenced, it is difficult

to see how this can be done if a

solicitor is asked to carry out a

transaction of a type which he has

not dealt with previously unless he

gets some indication from recom-

mended scales of charges as to

what the likely level of fees should

ba Guess work or checking with

colleagues who may have little more

experience of such transactions

would not be very satisfactory from

the client's point of view. The

distillation of the experience of

colleagues who have regularly dealt

w i t h such transactions into

recommended charges should not

be discouraged. The experience is

that these charges are regarded as

guidelines and are negotiabla They

should be permitted to remain.

•

139