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4. The following amendments shall be made in the Rules
applicable to Part II of Schedule I to the Order of 1884 :—
(a)
In Rule I for the words " according to the present
system as altered by Schedule II " there shall be sub
stituted the words " in accordance with Schedule 11
hereto."
(b)
In Rule 4 for the words " are to be dealt with under
the old system as altered by Schedule II " there shall
be substituted the words " are to be calculated in accord
ance with Schedule II hereto."
5. The
following Schedule
shall
be
substituted
for
Schedule II to the Order of 1884 :—
" SCHEDULE II.
For any business, not being contentious business, for
which no charge is prescribed by Schedule I, or in respect
of which the solicitor has, in accordance with clause 6
of this Order, elected to charge under Schedule II, the re
muneration shall be such sum as may be fair and reasonable
having regard to all relevant circumstances and in particular
to—
(1) the complexity, importance, difficulty, rarity or urgency
of the questions raised ;
(2) where money or property is involved, its amount or
value ;
(3) the importance of the matter to the client ;
(4) the skill, labour, specialised knowledge and responsi
bility involved on the part of the solicitor ;
(5) the number, character and importance of the documents
prepared or perused ;
(6) the place where, and the circumstances in which, the
business, or any part thereof, is transacted ;
and
(7) the time expended by the solicitor and his staff:
Provided that—
(a)
Without prejudice to the provisions of the Solicitors
(Ireland) Act, 1849, the client may require the solicitor
to obtain a certificate from the Incorporated Law Society
of Ireland certifying that the sum charged is fair and
reasonable or, if it is not, what is a fair and reasonable
sum and the sum so certified, if less than that charged,
shall, in the absence of taxation be the sum payable ;
(If)
before the solicitor brings proceedings to recover
costs on a bill delivered under this Schedule, he must,
unless the costs have been taxed, have drawn the attention
of the client in writing—
(i) to his right under paragraph
(a)
of this proviso to
require the solicitor to obtain a certificate from
the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland, and
(ii) to the provisions of the Solicitors (Ireland) Act,
1849, with regard to taxation of costs ;
(e)
the client shall not be entitled to require the solicitor
to obtain a certificate from the Incorporated Law Society
of Ireland under paragraph
(a)
of this proviso after the
bill has been either taxed or paid ;
(d)
on any taxation of a bill delivered under this
Schedule it shall be the duty of the solicitor to satisfy
the Taxing Master as to die fairness and reasonableness
of his charge ;
and
(e)
if the Taxing Master allows less than one-half of
the amount charged, he shall bring the facts of the case
to the attention of the Incorporated Law Society of
Ireland."
6. The Solicitors' Remuneration General Order (No. 2),
1920, is hereby revoked.
7. This Order shall apply to all business in respect of which
a bill of costs shall not have been furnished before the lorh da y
of October, 1957.
DATED THIS
IOTH DAY OF OCTOBER, 1957.
CONCHUBHAIR A. MAGUTDHIR,
Chief Justice.
CAHIR DAVITT,
President of the High Court.
CECIL LAVERY,
Senior Ordinary Judge of the
Supreme Court.
NIALL S. GAFFNEY,
President, Incorporated Law
Society of Ireland.
On November I3th the Minister for Justice on
behalf of the Government proposed a resolution
in Seanad Eireann asking the Government to dis
allow the Order. The motion was carried by 23
votes to 21 and by the Solicitor's Remuneration
General Order, 1957 (Disallowance) Order, 1957
(S.I. No. 232 of 1957) the Government disallowed
the Order. The following report from a special
Committee of the Council was read at the Ordinary
General Meeting on November 2ist.
It is our duty to make a report to the Society on a matter
which has caused the greatest concern not only to the Council
but to every practising solicitor, namely the motion disallowing
the Order of the statutory body under the Solicitors' Re
muneration Act. The members of the Statutory Body are
the Chief Justice, the President of the High Court, the Senior
Ordinary Judge of the Supreme Court, and the President
for the time being of the Society.
In July last the Statutory Body proposed to make a General
Order under the Solicitors' Remuneration Act, 1881, adopting
in principle the system of costs for non-contentious business
outside Court which has been in operation in Great Britain
since 1953. This is a gross sum of such amount as shall be
fair and reasonable and the tests of fairness and reasonableness
are set out in detail. Basically the method proposed is that
which is used in most other professions for similar work.
The Order provided two safeguards which are peculiar to the
solicitors' profession, firstly the client's right to obtain free
of charge a certificate from the Society as to the reasonableness
or otherwise of the charge, and secondly an over-riding right
to have the bill taxed by the Taxing Master.
A copy of the proposed Order was sent by the Statutory
Body to the Department of Justice early in July. The Body
intended to make the Order on 9th October. Late in July
an anonymous circular was posted to certain members of the
Oireachtas which, in
the guise of protecting the public
interest, sought to misrepresent the real effect of the Order
Realising the serious nature of these misstatements the Council
immediately circulated an answering statement of the facts
and the interview was sought with the Department of Justice.
On September 3rd the Secretary of the Society wrote to the
Department repeating a verbal request already made in
July to the Minister to receive a deputation. On 7th Septem
ber the Society received a letter from the Department in
timating that the Minister had seen the documents and
" doubted whether any useful purpose would be served by
receiving a deputation unless the Council proposed to advance
further arguments ",
61.