86 / 122
92
The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.
| FEBRUARY, 1912
In the same year we prepared and sent
forward a Bill which was considered by all
interested, and apparently approved of by
everybody, and it was brought in by Mr. P.
J. Brady—whom I am glad to see here to
day—at the request of the Incorporated Law
Society. We all know
the history and
vicissitudes of that Bill. We all know that
it had everybody's blessing, and apparently
no one could say anything against it.
I use
the phrase " against it " advisedly, because
we, from whom it originated, and those by
whom it was brought in, knew and under
stood that its provisions did not go half as
far as they might have gone. We foresaw,
however, that if we sought to introduce all
those things which we knew were required
there would be a hundred opposing it instead
of one or two. We reduced the provisions of
the Bill to the lowest minimum to meet the
opposition and wishes of everyone interested,
and what has been the result ?
The result
is that we are now in exactly the same position
as we were in 1895 and 1896 when we started
the agitation first.
I felt, and those with me
felt, that unless something could be done to
let the public see and know that it was not
the Solicitors' profession who were opposed
to these most necessary reforms, that we
would be blamed, and that we would con
tinue to be blamed for nothing practical
having been done to carry out the reforms
that everybody wanted to be carried out.
The Public Press is the only means whereby
we can show that we, at all events, are not
to blame, and we come here to-day to try, if
possible, to get something done, to have some
progress forward made.
If we cannot make
any progress, if nothing can be done to obtain
the reforms we, as a profession, desire, then
all we can say for our part is that it is not our
fault that these suggested improvements have
not been made, and that if the Public and the
Merchants and Traders choose to put up with
the well-known existing defects, then we, as
a profession, wash our hands of all respon
sibility (hear, hear). We ask for a Commis
sion, and the only way to get it is to make
the authorities understand that the defects
in Civil Bill procedure are beyond yea or nay
a most important matter to the Commercial
community.
I had occasion some short time
ago to refer in this Hall to some statistics.
I regret that I will have to do so again, but
I will make them be as short and clear as
possible.
In the Irish Civil Statistics for 1910
you will find that there were 14,540 writs of
summons issued in the High Court. Now,
unfortunately, that return does not show the
amounts for which these writs were issued,
and it has only been by going through various
unofficial lists .of writs issued and judgments
marked in which the amounts of these writs
and
judgments were
recorded,
and by
making calculations, that I have been able
to ascertain the amount that these 14,540
writs would come to. Taking the period of
twelve years, I have arrived at the average
amount for which a writ is issued as being
£35,
and multiplying that by 14,540 you can
see that £508,900 is the amount for which
writs are issued annually on the Common
Law side of the High Court of Justice. Let
us now look for a moment at the figures
dealing with Civil Bill matters in the Civil
Statistics. We find that in the County and
City of Dublin in the same year—1910—
there were 6,799 Civil Bills actually entered
for hearing, which is a different thing from
being issued, because these 6,799 are cases in
which decrees were made for either party, or.
payment made or the case settled between
the parties.
In the Belfast Recorder's Court
the number was 7,397, making a total of
Dublin and Belfast of 14.197, or very nearly
as many cases as writs were issued for the
whole of Ireland. Now, in the whole of
Ireland there were Civil Bills entered for
hearing to the number of 82,153, or about
five times as many as the writs actually
issued in the High Court. Who can say, or
what Government could say (if this matter
is placed before them properly) that such a
volume of business
is not an
important
matter for the Merchants and Traders of this
country ? Now, it is curious to see how the
averages go.
The average amount, taking
cases entered for hearing as a basis, for which
a decree is made in the City of Dublin is
£1
3s. 4d., in County Dublin it is /8 13s. 4d.,
in the Belfast Recorder's Court it is £4, and
for all Ireland the amount is £5 10s. Od.
The number of cases entered for hearing in all
Ireland is 82,153, and striking an estimate at
£5
10s. each, we arrive at £451,841. Any
County Court Practitioner's experience
is
that at least additional Civil Bills to the
amount of one-third of those entered for