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GAZETTE •
- APRIL 1978
including quotations of fees for a first consultation of 15
dollars.
Obviously it will be some time before the practice settles
down, and it may necessarily vary from State to State
since the ruling bodies are Stale and not Federal, even
though the rules are inspired by the American Bar
Association.
U.K.
No action on lifting restrictions on individual
advertising has yet been announced by the Law Socicty of
England and Wales, though it is understood that the
Society is under strong pressure to comply with the terms
of the Monopolies Commission Report. The Law Society
of Scotland's journal recently commented that "the winds
of change may be beginning to move the leaves even here
in Scotland". Before the Monopolies Commission the
Law Society had argued the case for collective advertising
by the profession rather than individual advertising, and it
is not surprising to find that the Society recently mounted
a major collective advertising campaign in the media
featuring "Mr. What 'is Name". Views on any
advertising campaign are necessarily subjective until the
effect of the campaign can be scientifically measured but
it must be said that the campaign appeared somewhat old
fashioned in its approach possibly because of a limited
budget being spread too thinly and the newspaper
advertisements were in danger of being mistaken for yet
another strip cartoon (or perhaps it was so designed to
attract the legion of strip cartoon fans). It is understood
that the Scottish Law Society which previously mounted
a similar campaign did not consider it to be very
successful.
From the point of view of the profession in England
and Wales it was significant that the Monopolies
Commission, accepting that there was a need for
restraints on the nature of advertising, did not consider it
necessary to recommend independent representation on
the bodies concerned with the formulation and
enforcement of an advertising code but were prepared to
leave this to the existing Law Socicty bodies, thus leaving
the profession a reasonable opportunity of maintaining its
own discipline.
In contrast to the recent developments in the United
States and United Kingdom the profession in most
continental European states have very strict restrictions
on advertising, in many cases even more strict than the
U.K. or Irish restrictions. Whether it will prove possible
to rely on the widespread nature of these restrictions as an
argument for their retention in Ireland must be doubtful.
It may well be that as in so many other fields, where the
U.S. leads today the rest of the Western World will follow
tomorrow.
Judicature (Northern Ireland) Bill, 1977
%
This Bill which was, in the House of Lctfds, ordered to be
printed on the 6th December 1977, gives effect to the
proposals described in the Government White Paper
"Courts in Northern Ireland: The Future Pattern"
(Cmnd. 6892). It will effect a major modernisation of
Courts and their administration in Northern Ireland,
including abolition of the Court of Criminal Appeal and
the transfer of its jurisdiction to the Court of Appeal, the
establishment of a Crown Court for the trial of all
criminal cases on indictment, the creation of a si.igle
unified Courts administration to rcplace the separate
Courts services which at present exist, and a territorial
redistribution of Courts and offices to take account of
changes in local government boundaries.
In certain respects, the Bill represents the first legis-
lative step in the assimilation of the Northern Ireland
Courts structure with that in Britain. Firstly, a Crown
Court is established as part of the Supreme Court and,
sccondjy, a Family Division of the High Court is created
n for the first time.
New rules are set out in relation to applications for
declaratory judgments or prerogative orders. Clauses 18-
25 give effect, with modifications, to the recommen-
dations of the MacDermott Committee (Cmnd. 4292)
and the Law Commission on remedies in administrative
Law (Cmnd. 6407). These clauses enable a person to
make a single application for any one or more of the
prerogative orders and, in appropriate circumstances, for
a declaration or an injunction, T7ic High Court will have
power, on such an application being made, to award the
applicant any damages which he could have claimed in an
action begun by writ. The Court will also be able to make
a binding declaration of right whether or not any conse-
quential relief is or could be claimed and notwithstanding
that the events on which the right depends have not
occurrcd.
Part VIII restates in modern form provisions of the
Judicature Act (Ireland). 1877, which ensured the
concurrent administration of law and equity. Clause 86,
hardly surprisingly, restates the rule that where there is a
conflict of law and equity the rules of equity shall prevail.
The financial and manpower consequences of this 120-
clausc measure are quite good. The new arrangements are
intended to effect savings by the use of more efficient
methods of disposing of business, the reduction of delays,
and the more cffcctivc deployment of staff. No new
appointments will have to be made when this Bill is
cnactcd.
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