Previous Page  788 / 822 Next Page
Information
Show Menu
Previous Page 788 / 822 Next Page
Page Background

sidered. It was ordered that the application under

Section 16 be granted, and the application under

Section 18 be not opposed.

Costs of Tenancy Agreements

THE Council considered a report from a Committee

on this matter, and directed that a note should be

published in the GAZETTE to clarify the position.

The opinion of the Council is printed on page 45

of this issue.

Guarantee of rent on the granting of a lease

UNDER

an arrangement between an

intending

lessor and an intending lessee a third party guaran

teed the rent on behalf of the lessee. Some cor

respondence and attendances, which would have

not been necessary had there been no guarantee,

took place. The lessor's solicitor claimed charges

against the lessee for such correspondence and

attendances in addition to the scale fee. The Council

decided, that as between the parties, in the absence

of any stipulation to the contrary the lessor was

not entitled to charge the lessee with the extra

expenses thereby occasioned.

Solicitor pleading Statute of Limitations

A solicitor who owned certain property jointly

with a person who was not his client, was accustomed

to strike a balance periodically with his co-owner

showing the amounts due to each on foot of rent

collected.

The co-owner was also in occupation

of portion of the property as sub-lessee at a rack

rent;

and the periodical account included the

income tax to be allowed as between the parties.

By a bona fide error the solicitor did not allow

to his co-owner the full amount of income tax

to which she was entitled, and after her death the

solicitors acting for her executors took the matter

up with the solicitor who was joint owner with

the deceased. More than six years had elapsed

since the original mistake had occurred, and the

solicitor joint-owner offered to allow six years'

refund of the income tax which had been under-

allowed. The matter was submitted to the Council

for their opinion. The Council expressed the opinion

that, except under abnormal and unusual circum

stances, a solicitor, while legally entitled to plead

the Statute of Limitations in regard to his personal

debts, should not do so as a matter of practice,

and

that,

in

this particular case,

the

statute

should not be pleaded.

Solicitors' Bill

THE Secretary read a letter from the Taoiseach,

stating that the Government have directed that

the Solicitors' Bill be drafted by the Parliamentary

Draftsman, and that he had requested the Parli

mentary Draftsman to give the matter his earliest

attention so that the Bill might be introduced in

the

Dili

as soon as possible after the Christmas

recess.

NOVEMBER 26th. The President in the chair :

Also

present: Mr. James R. Quirke, Vice-President,

Messrs. H. St. J. Blake, P. F. O'Reilly, G. A.

Overend, Roger Greene, Thomas A. O'Reilly,

William J. Norman, Niall S. Gaffney, Henry P.

Mayne, Daniel O'Connell,

John P. Carrigan,

Dermot P. Shaw, W. S. Huggard, P. R. Boyd,

John J. Dunne, J. D. O'Connell,

L.

E.

O'Dea,

J. Travers Wolfe, A. Cox.

The following was among the business

trans

acted :

Undertaking by Solicitor

THE Secretary reported that he received a query

from a solicitor for the opinion of the Council

as to his position under the following circumstances.

Acting on behalf of a purchaser who had purchased

a business as a going concern, he had received

an undertaking from the vendor's solicitors that

they would furnish a certificate from an accountant

that the turnover of the business exceeded £11,000

per annum.

The balance of the purchase money

had thereupon been placed on a deposit account

in the joint names of the solicitors for the vendor

and the purchaser. The solicitor for the purchaser

had given the following cross-undertaking :

" In

consideration of closing the sale this day I undertake

to endorse

the

deposit receipt for £4,034, in

return for the delivery of the deed of assignment

duly executed by the vendor.

I also undertake

to send you the said deed of assignment for execu

tion within one week.

This, provided I receive

the accounts required in your cross-undertaking

within the prescribed time."

The purchaser in

structed his

solicitor

that

the auctioneer

had

stated that the gross profit on the turnover was

greater than had been found to be the case, and he

instructed his solicitor not to endorse and hand

over the deposit receipt.

The Council expressed

the opinion that the undertaking given by the

solicitor for the purchaser was a personal under

taking, and that he is bound both as a matter of

professional practice and conduct, and also legally,

to endorse and hand over the deposit receipt for

the balance of the purchase money, on compliance

by the vendor's solicitors with their cross-under

taking.

Applications under Sections 16 and 18

Two applications from law clerks asking for leave

to be bound for three years as apprentices were

43