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THE HON. TIMOTHY SULLIVAN
THE following letter has been received from the
Hon. Timothy Sullivan in reply to the resolution of
the Council on the occasion of his retirement from
the office of Chief Justice:
Shamrock Hill,
Stillorgan Road, Dublin,
dth May,
1946.
Dear Mr. Secretary,
I must ask you to excuse my delay in acknowledg–
ing the receipt of the resolution adopted by the
Council of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland
on my retirement.
Will you convey to the Council my deep apprecia–
tion of the far too generous terms in which they
refer to my work as Chief Justice. The kindly
relations which always existed between us were due
in large measure to the assistance unfailingly given
to me by the Council and by the solicitors whom
they represent, and I am glad to avail myself of this
opportunity to express my. gratitude to both.
I
thank the Council for their good wishes, and I
thank you, Mr. Secretary, for so kindly associating
yourself with the resolution.
Yours sincerely,
TIMOTHY SULLIVAN.
LEGAL TEXT BOOKS
THE Council have recently considered the difficul–
ties experienced by solicitors' apprentices in studying
for the Intermediate and Final Examinations of the
Society owing to the present scarcity of legal text
books. On account of the changes effected by
English legislation in subjects such as Real Pro–
perty, Conveyancing and Company Law since the
setting up of the Irish Free State, the modern
editions of English text books on these subjects
are not appropriate to this country.
Students,
consequently, must rely upon the older editions.
These editions have been gradually going out of
print and are now becoming very difficult to procure,
and the Secretary frequently receives letters from
apprentices asking where they can obtain copies of
the books on the courses.
Some years ago the
Government was approached by the Council and
requested to subsidise the publication of legal text–
books, but no step has been taken in this direction.
Even if it were now decided to undertake the
publication of legal text books in this country a
considerable interval of time would elapse before
any law books could appear on the market, and
in the interval the difficulties in the way of appren–
tices preparing
for
the Society's
examinations
would continue to be very great. The Council
feel that the responsibility lies upon them to take
all possible steps to remedy the situation, and they
have therefore decided to purchase as many copies
of the appropriate editions of the text books as are
available with the object of lending them to appren–
tices preparing for the examinations.
It has been
decided to circularise the profession individually
as there may be a number of solicitors who will
be prepared to sell law books to the Society for the
purpose of the scheme, and the Council hope that
the response from the profession will enable them
to overcome in part, at least, the present difficulties.
DECISIONS OF INTEREST TO THE
PROFESSION
THERE is a number of recently
reported cases
either affecting the solicitors' profession or dealing
with matters which, although not affecting solicitors
personally, fall within the peculiar province of a
solicitor's practice. The
first of these cases
Barratt
v.
Gough, Thomas & ors. was referred
to in the number of the GAZETTE for November
last and is now noted as it has been brought to the
English Court of Appeal from the Chancery Division
(6z T.L.R. 40). The plaintiff in the proceedings
was a mortgagor seeking redemption of his mortgage
and the defendants were
the executors of the
deceased mortgagee. The first defendant was also
a solicitor who on the occasion of the mortgage
had acted for both mortgagor and mortgagee.
At the date of the redemption proceedings he was a
creditor of the mortgagor for the costs of the
mortgage and for certain advances, all of which had
become
statute-barred.
The defendants
in
the
redemption proceedings did not dispute the plain–
tiff's right to redeem the mortgage.
The sole
question raised in the proceedings was whether or
not the first-named defendant was entitled to a lien
on the title deeds which he had retained all along
for the amount due to him by the plaintiff mortgagor .
on foot of the costs and moneys advanced.
It was
decided by the parties that the most convenient
method of having this matter determined was to
raise it in the redemption proceedings, and accord–
ingly the solicitor defendant applied to the Court
for an order declaring that he was entitled to a
retaining lien on the title deeds. His application
was refused by'the High Court.
The Court held that once the solicitor became an
executor of the deceased mortgagee he ceased to
hold the title deeds as solicitor and thereafter held
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