200 / 266
o f section 43, may be liable to take out arrear
certificates and pay the stamp duty and registration
fees thereon before he is permitted to take out a
certificate on an application made subsequently to
the Council under section 47 o f the Solicitors’
(Ireland) Act, 1898. An assistant solicitor who
transacts any business for clients on his own account
should, o f course, take out a certificate to cover any
professional business either in or out o f Court.
SAVING THE COSTS OF APPEALS.
T
he
Master o f the Rolls, sitting in the Court of
Appeal with Lord Justice Jenkins and Lord Justice
Hodson, made a statement at the hearing o f the
divorce appeal which was adjourned on Thursday,
to enable the members of the Court to read the
transcript o f the evidence and correspondence in
order to save the time which would have been
taken up if the documents had been read aloud in
Court.
Shorthand-writer’s fees.
His Lordship, referring to the report on the matter in
The T im s,
said that he wished to draw attention to
the terms o f Order 66A which was made part of
the Rules of the Supreme Court in 1940. It provided
for the taking of an official shorthand note o f
trials in the High Court. Payment of the fees
was made out of public funds, but rule 4 o f that
Order provided that any transcript required for
the Court o f Appeal should be paid for by the
appellant in the first instance, and the costs should,
unless the Court of Appeal otherwise directed, be
costs in the appeal. Rule 3 provided : “ I f the Judge
intimates that in the event of an appeal his note will
be sufficient, the shorthand note of the evidence
need not be transcribed for the purposes o f an
appeal.” By sub-rule (2) : “ I f the parties agree,
or the Judge is o f opinion that the evidence or some
part of the evidence o f any witness or witnesses
w ou ld .. .be o f no assistance to the Court of Appeal,
the shorthand note o f such evidence need not be
transcribed for the purposes of an appeal.”
Why evidence read in private.
T
he
taking of a shorthand note and its transcription
were skilled operations, and the costs o f transcripts
for the Court of Appeal where a trial lasted many
days was not inconsiderable. To a party who was
not affluent, the burden would be severe. It seemed
to be sometimes assumed that, where there was an
appeal on a question o f fact, the whole o f the
evidence should be transcribed as a matter of
course. He (his Lordship) was not making a special
reference to legally aided persons, and he hoped
that advantage would be taken in appropriate cases
o f the provisions in the order, thus saving consider
able costs. One powerful reason, his Lordship said,
why the Court took the course o f adjourning for
the members to read the evidence, was for the
convenience of everybody including the parties.
Had it been necessary for the transcript to be read
in Court, it would probably have resulted in the
hearing having to go over for an indefinite period.
The objection to such a course was that it might
be suggested that the Court’s decision was based
on what it had read in private, and not on arguments
heard in open Court.
The appeal in question was dismissed
(The Times
newspaper).
SITTINGS OF HIGH COURT
OUTSIDE DUBLIN.
B
y
a rule o f Court made on n th June (S.I. No.
131/1954) the following rule was inserted in Order
X V I o f the Rules o f the High Court and Supreme
Court 1926 immediately after Rule 2 thereof.
3.
An application by any party for an order for
the trial o f any proceedings elsewhere than in Dublin
may be made to a judge at any time before trial by
motion on notice to the other party or parties to
such proceedings.
LAND REGISTRY STAMPS.
A
le t t e r
has been received from the Registrar o f
Titles drawing attention to the Land Registration
Fee Order, 1954 (S.I. No. 128/1954) which was
printed in the June issue of the Society’s Gazette.
It is pointed out that practitioners when applying
for copies o f documents may send Land Registry
stamps for the amount o f the fixed fees without
the delay and correspondence in connection with
the assessment o f fees on the basis o f the length
of the document which was formerly necessary.
The new procedure should facilitate both solicitors
'
and the officials o f the Registry.
It has been decided to substitute an adhesive
Revenue stamp o f 1 /- on certified copies of docu
ments issued by the Land Registry for the impressed
Revenue stamp at present required by Section 2
o f the Stamp Act, 1891. Statutory authority for
this change is included in the Finance Bill, 1954.
The 1 /- Revenue stamp may be an ordinary postage
stamp for that value and may after the date o f the
passing o f the Finance Act, be sent to the Registry
with the Land Registry Stamp for the fixed standard
fee prescribed by the Land Registration Fee Order,
1954. •
2 2