142 / 338
Passed (in alphabetical order) :
Michael J. P. Alien ;
Mary Binchy; Michael
J3. Creed;
James
J.
Dennison ;
Joseph Gilmartin ; Rory M. Hogan ;
Thomas Jackson ; John Jay ; Charles McDonnell;
Patrick J.
J. McGrath;
Peter J. McMahon;
Roderick D. O'Donnell; Francis J. O'Mahony.
42 entered ;
17 passed.
The Centenary prize was awarded to Maurice R.
Curran.
PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES
OF ADMISSION
On July 24th the President at a ceremony in the
Society's Library presented certificates of admission
to the following Solicitors :—
Michael
P. M.
Connellan, Church
Street,
Longford ; Thomas F. Cusack, B.C.L., Ballyjames-
duff, Co Cavan; Miss Fionnuala Duane, B.C.L.,
LL.B., 23 Eaton Square, Monkstown, Co. Dublin
(2nd Place, Final Examination, May 1959, Special
Certificate); Michael J. Fitzsimons, B.C.L.,
i
Ludlow Street, Nava.n, Co. Meath; Miss Maire N.
Gibbons, B.C.L., 16 Dollymount Avenue, Clontarf,
Dublin ; Miss Jill Greensmith, 16 Garville Avenue,
Rathgar, Dublin; Michael J. Hogan, B.C.L.,
Ladymount, Callan, Co. Kilkenny ;
Thomas J. D.
Lane, B.A.(Mod-), LL.B., The Hut, Howth, Co.
Dublin; Miss Noelle Maguire, Bullock Castle,
Dalkey, Co. Dublin ; Kevin C. McGilligan, B.C.L.,
5 8 Lansdowne Road, Dublin ;
Miss Gertrude L.
O'Connell, B.C.L., Alta Villa, Listowel, Co. Kerry ;
Miss Rosaleen Walsh, B.A., Port-na-Blagh, Co.
Donegal.
LIBRARY
Vacation Arrangements
THE Library will be closed from Thursday, 2yth
August to Saturday, 26th September, inclusive. The
Library will re-open on Monday, 28th September
at 10 a.m. Members wishing to borrow books
urgently may do so by applying to the office.
DECISIONS OF PROFESSIONAL
INTEREST
Solicitor-trustee has a right to be paid even if an attesting
witness to will, if he is appointed trustee after testator has
died.
The Master of the Rolls, Lord Justice Hodson and
Lord Justice Romer in the Court of Appeal allowed
this appeal by a solicitor, Mr. George Tildesley, of
Staines, from the decisions of Mr. Justice Wynn
Parry on November 5, 1958 (1959)
i Ch.
191).
The Court held that although he was an attesting
witness of the will of the late Sir Frederick Royce,
who died in 1933, he was not precluded by section
15 of the Wills Act, 1837, from entitlement to re
muneration for his services as trustee under clause 16
or to charge professional remuneration under clause
17 of the will, since he was only appointed as a
trustee of the will by the surviving trustee after the
testator had died and the will had been proved.
Section 15 provides :
"... if any person shall
attest the execution of any will to whom .
.
. any
beneficial interest .
.
.
shall be thereby given or
made, such beneficial interest. .
. shall ... be utterly
null and void .
.
."
The Master of the Rolls, giving judgment, said
that the language of section 15 of the Act 1837,
pointed on its face to an inquiry at one date only—
namely, the date at which the will was attested ;
and the question to be posed at that date was whether
any beneficial interest was given to the attesting
witness under the will. Mr. Tildesley's name did
not appear anywhere in it; nor when the testator
died was he a beneficiary under it. He had been
appointed as a trustee, as anybody in the world
might have been, by persons other than the testator
after the testator's death, and his interest under the
will arose therefore from what might be called a
novus actus interveniens.
The appeal should be allowed.
(See Gazette, Vol. 52, No. 6, pages 69-70) (Re
Royce, Deed.—
The Times,
15 July, 1959).
Plaintiff's solicitors ordered to pay costs of the day, when
plaintiff did not attend.
Mr. Justice Finnemore ordered that the plaintiff's
solicitors subject to an application to the Court,
should pay the costs thrown away in the day's
hearing of this case, at which the plaintiff failed to
attend.
Counsel for the plaintiff, said that when the case
came into the list yesterday, the plaintiff's London
agents made efforts to warn his Southend solicitor
by telephone, but these efforts were unsuccessful.
They had been able to communicate with him only
this morning, with the result that the plaintiff, who
was in Southend, had only just learnt of the matter,
and would not be able to reach the Court before
about the usual time of the adjournment.
Counsel for the defendants, said that most of his
witnesses, had been brought back specially from
their holidays for to-day's hearing.
His Lordship said that it was intolerable if a case
was put into the list and one could not get hold of
the plaintiff. Perhaps counsel for the plaintiff would
convey to those concerned the very considerable
displeasure of the Court. The defendants must have
their costs of to-day in any event, and subject to
an application to the Court these costs must be paid
by the plaintiff's solicitors. Unless it turned out