149 / 346
GAZETTE
JULY/AUGUST
198
Correspondence
The Editor,
27 May 1983
The Law Society Gazette,
Blackhall Place,
Dublin 7.
Dear Sir,
Overheard at Dunmanway District Court on the 25th
inst., whilst the Defence Solicitor was cross-examining a
witness — " I must put it to you that the van had not
sufficient power left to mount the grass virgin".
I have heard of a grass widow or widower but a grass
virgin?
Yours faithfully,
Grattan Neville,
Solicitor,
Clonakilty,
Co. Cork.
The Editor,
20 May 1983
The Law Society Gazette,
Blackhall Place,
Dublin 7.
Sir,
Through the medium of your columns, I would like to
address an appeal to members of the profession to have
regard to the limits of jurisdiction set by the Courts Act,
1981, when they are about to issue civil proceedings,
especially those for liquidated demands, which are likely to
terminate in judgment by default.
During the protracted dispute between the District
Court Clerks and the Department of Justice, now happily
ended, solicitors were of necessity obliged to enter cases in
the Circuit Court which were in fact within the District
Court jurisdiction, as enlarged by the 1981 Act. The effect
was to overtax the resources of many Circuit Court Offices
and hence to cause delays in the processing of litigation.
Furthermore, efforts to cope with the pressure of court
work frequently had a chain-reaction, lending to delays in
the other types of legal business which are properly the
function of the provincial Circuit Court Offices, e.g. Land
Registry, Sheriff and in some cases Probate.
It is, of course, accepted that, subject to the risk of being
penalised in costs, a litigant is entitled to proceed in
whichever Court he chooses, provided it has jurisdiction.
A County Registrar cannot refuse to accept a Civil Bill for
entry simply because the amount claimed is within the
District Court jurisdiction.
However, civil claims for sums less than £2,500 can now
be dealt with at least as simply and expeditiously in the
District as in the Circuit Court. Indeed, it can also be more
profitable to a solicitor to proceed in the lower court
because of the anomaly that the Circuit Court is still con-
strained to apply the 1972 scales of costs, whereas the
District Court has new scales introduced in 1982. Just
taking default, i.e. debt-collecting, cases as an example, the
solicitor's professional fee works out as follows:—
On a Decree for £150: District Court — £16. Circuit
Court — £10.80.
On a Decree for £600: District Court £29.50. Circuit
Court — £15.00.
On a Decree for £1,500: District Court — £56.50.
Circuit Court — £22.25.
The discrepancy grows, the higher the amount involved,
and one might expect that, if this were fully appreciated, it
would be a substantial inducement to move in the District
Court in appropriate cases.
Likewise, most types of family law proceedings, which
regularly involve repeated applications to Court, would
seem, at least in provincial areas, to be more suited to the
District Court, for the reason that it sits more frequently
and at a far greater variety of venues than the Circuit, and
is therefore more accessible to solicitors and their clients
alike.
It has been suggested that metropolitan-based solicitors
engaged in substantial debt collecting work, being
unfamiliar with provincial arrangements, find difficulty in
ascertaining the appropriate District Court Area in which
to proceed. In the writer's view, this can only be due to
inertia, because these Areas are well established and on
record, not only in District Court Rules but also in the
current Law Directory; if, despite this, doubt still remains,
this could be speedily resolved by an enquiry to whoever
appears to be the nearest District Court Clerk. That would
be preferable to taking the easy way out, by issuing pro-
ceeings in the Circuit Court, thereby clogging up its
resources.
Now that normal working has been resumed in the
District Court Offices, it is hoped that solicitors will revert
to the former practice of bringing their proceedings in the
most appropriate forum, having regard to the limits of
jurisdiction, unless there are very pressing reasons for
doing otherwise. This would be in the interests of the pro-
fession as well as of the Circuit Court Offices, because the
reduction in the work-load there will tend to minimise
delays, especially in the area of default judgments.
My colleagues and I look forward to the co-operation of
the profession in this regard.
Yours etc.,
T. G. Crotty,
Chairman, County Registrars' Association,
Circuit Court Office,
Kilkenny.
BOOK REVIEW
(continued from p. 135)
The editors are to be congratulated on producing a fully
critical and annotated text of this difficult work. For the
first time all of Bentham's modifications of the original text
of 1780 are incorporated and identified and his references
are elucidated. Professor Hart has added an introduction
specially designed for students while an index of subjects
and an index of names act as signposts for the traveller on
his difficult journey through the text.This is a university
paperback presented on the finest of paper and with the
clearest of print.
Gerard A. Lee
141