7 / 338
and signed by the chairman. The chairman announced
that he nominated the following members of the
Society to act as scrutineers of the ballot for the
election of the Council to be held on zoth November,
1958 : John R. McG Blakeney, James R. Green,
Thomas Jackson, Brendan P; McCormack and
Roderick J. Tierney.
The President, adressing the meeting, said :
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
Since our last meeting in November
I have
to record with regret the death of the following
members :
James Malseed, Co. Donegal; Peter P. Taaffe,
Co. Kildare; Thomas J. Dowdall, JVTullingar;
James T. Listen, Co. Cork ;
Aloysius J. Reddy,
Dublin; Cecil G. Vanston, Dublin; Martin J.
Crotty, Kilkenny ; Patrick J. Connellan, Longford ;
and my father, John Pierce Carrigan, Thurles, who
was a mamber of the Council of the Society from
the year 1940 to 1949, and was Vice-President for
the year 1942-43.
On behalf of the members of the Council and
myself I would like to express deep sympathy to
their relatives and friends.
MEMBERSHIP.
There are in Ireland 1,369 solicitors who are
practising, and of these 1,132 are members of the
Incorporated Law Society. This means that there
are still 237 solicitors who are not members.
I
must urge every practising solicitor in Ireland to
become a member of the Society. The Society
regulates matters within the profession itself and the
dealings of the profession with the public. It is the
rock upon which our profession stands.
It will
generally be agreed
that in
the world
to-day
standards of conduct, decency and honesty have,
in every walk of life without exception, sadly fallen
from what they were. The example of the nations
of the world in their search for power and profit
and self-interest are hardly calculated to inspire the
common man to maintain a standard of any kind.
It is more necessary than ever that our Society
should cling to and enforce the high standards which
were set for it in the past by the great lawyers who
have gone before us and that it should see that those
who do not subscribe to those standards are ad–
monished accordingly.
BAR ASSOCIATIONS.
And in this connection the Bar Associations were
never more necessary than they are to-day. I have
always been convinced that the Bar Associations
are the sheet-anchor of our profession. These have
their being and their influence in areas which quite
obviously cannot come under the direct influence
of the Council of this Society. They are very often
able to deal with certain difficulties arising between
their members in a more satisfactory way than the
Council of the Law Society could, and their influence
in every case without exception does nothing but
good;
There ought to be a Bar Association in every
County in Ireland and every solicitor in that County
should be a member of that particular Bar Associa–
tion. I make no apology whatsoever for saying that
there must be something very wrong indeed with
an area which has not got a Bar Association. It
may be due only to apathy, but whatever may be
the cause there is no excuse. I hope to see the day
when every County is served by a Bar Association
and indeed apart from one or two exceptions that
day has almost arrived.
If there is anything that the Council or I can do
to assist any existing Bar Association or any group
of solicitors in founding a Bar Association, we have
only to be asked and we will gladly give any help we
can.
DISCIPLINARY JURISDICTION.
As you know, since the last general meeting
of the Society the Supreme Court has delivered
judgment on the constitutional issues raised by the
appeals taken by two solicitors against orders of the
Disciplinary Committee made under Section 18 of
the Solicitors Act 1954, whereby the Committee
directed that their names should be struck off the
roll. The Court was not concerned with any question
other than the constitutional validity of the sections
of the statute which were challenged by the appell–
ants.
The Chief Justice had decided that the statute
was validly enacted and affirmed this Order of the
Committee. The Attorney-General was joined as
respondent with the Society.
The short point involved in the appeal was
whether the Disciplinary Committee, set up by the
Solicitors Act 1954 had been given powers and
functions
the exercise of which
involved
the
" administration of justice " and which could not
properly be regarded as falling within the saving
provisions of Article 37 of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court held that the Solicitors Act
1954 purported to delegate the constitutional judicial
authority of the Courts to the Disciplinary Commit–
tee in certain cases, and that the exercise of such
assigned powers and functions, being calculated
ordinarily to affect in the most profound and far-
reaching way the lives, liberties, fortunes or re–
putations of those against whom they might be