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DECEMBER, 1934]
The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.
23
Membership.
Passing to the Report, I am pleased to
observe that the membership of the Society
has increased somewhat over former years,
but when
I observe that there are 480
Solicitors practising in the Free State who
are not members of the Society, I feel that a
great deal yet remains to be done to make the
Society as it should be co-extensive with
the profession.
It cannot be so described
while one practising Solicitor out of every
three is outside our fold, and is the more
astonishing when you observe the advantages
provided by the Society for its members.
The accommodation we have here is the
admiration of all who have had an oppor
tunity of visiting the premises, and as I have
already remarked, and as is emphasised in
the Report, we now have a library complete
with legal text-books of every description,
including all the Reports from 1843 to date,
and which are available on loan to members
residing in all parts of the country.
I do hope that when this fact is more
generally known it will result in a further
substantial increase in our membership.
Legal Text-Books.
Turning to the subject of legal text-books,
as you will see from the Report, your Council
have had under consideration for some time
past the want of law books to meet the
requirements of practitioners in the Circuit
and District Courts. This is a matter which
concerns the Bar just as much as ourselves,
and a report from a joint committee of your
Council and the Bar was submitted to the
Minister for Justice so far back as July, 1933,
who requested further information as to the
cost of production. This was furnished, and
the matter is still before your Council, but
pending the passing of the Bill to amend the
Courts of Justice Act, we feel it would be
undesirable to take any further immediate
action.
Chronological Index of Statutes.
I am glad to observe that since our Report
was prepared there has been published by
the Stationery Office an index of the legisla–
tion passed by the Oireachtas in the years
1922 to 1932, a publication familiarly known
to us as a Chronological Index of Statutes.
The cost of this publication is half a guinea.
The more rapid publication of the bound
volumes of Statutes has been urged on the
Stationery Office by
the Council.
The
volume of 1933 Statutes is not yet issued.
Courts of Justice Bill.
As you all know the long-expected Courts
of Justice Bill was read a first time some
months ago, but though the legal future of
this country depends so much upon it, it has
not yet been printed or made available in
any form for the public or the professions
which are so vitally interested in its contents.
It is generally believed that the Bill
provides
for
the
appointment
of
two
additional High Court Judges. If this is
so,
the delay in passing it into law is the more
unfortunate, as one of the existing High
Court Judges, having received an important
temporary appointment under the League of
Nations, must necessarily be absent from his
work here during the busiest period of the
legal year.
We have made from time to time important
suggestions for the better working of the
Courts of Justice, and we have invariably
received the reply that the matter would be
considered when the Courts of Justice Bill
was being prepared. So we continue to look
forward with anxiety to the contents of the
Bill.
The Council has during the year looked
after the general interests of the profession,
and I now beg to move the adoption of its
Report.
MR. GEORGE A. OVEREND
(Vice-
President) seconded
the adoption of
the
Report.
THE PRESIDENT put the resolution
adopting the Report, and it was passed
unanimously.
MR. OVEREND (Vice-President) having
taken the Chair, on the motion of Mr. H. P.
Mayne, seconded by Mr. R. G. Warren, a
hearty vote of thanks was passed to the
President with acclamation.
THE
PRESIDENT
having
returned
thanks the meeting terminated.