The Gazette 1977

GAZE1TE

DECEMBER1977

SOCIETY OF YOUNG SOLICITORS

SLIGO SEMINAR

An Extract from Spy's Diary

Mercifully I was not left to languish alone on the

platform of Heuston Station by following the programme

instructions on how to travel to the Sligo

Seminar—frantic telephone calls from the organisers and

a back page newspaper notice all exhorted me to direct

my steps to Connolly Station on Friday evening. Some

malevolent person in authority had seen fit to house me,

not in the Sligo Park Hotel where all the action was for

the weekend, but in a somewhat less glamorous riverside

establishment. For all these reasons my humour on

arrival on the Friday evening was ill, and my mood was

only improved by a few pleasurable hours spent

blackening the characters of some chosen colleagues in

the social proceedings which followed.

My humour (if not my knowledge) was bettered further

on the Saturday morning on hearing the good Mr. Henry

Comerford's version of the trials with or without

tribulations of personal injury claims. The topic of his

lecture was of secondary importance. His manner of

recounting his anecdotes of Court life in Galway was

entertaining enough to cure many a sick head—even if

the best intentioned possessors of those heads were forced

into the bar again afterwards by the violent struggle that

was taking place for coffee outside.

A lecture by Peter Delaney followed on the subject of

actuarial assessment of damages. I believe that it was

very informative. Unfortunately my pre luncheon aperitif

time clashed and I was forced to remain with the less

erudite company in the bar. Lunch itself was a very well

organised conveyor belt affair where the would-be diner

was shunted through passages where food and eating

utensils were pressed upon him from all sides and he

emerged a dazed finished product helplessly weighing

food and drink in either hand like the Statue of Justice

and wishing for the arms of Buddha to enable him to

shovel the lot into his mouth. The lunch when eventually

eaten proved good and a lecture by Kevin Haugh B.L.

followed where he outlined in great detail the defences

available to offences under the Road Traffic Acts. I

lamented the effort I had put into absorbing Mr. Haugh's

learned words some days later when I read that the

breathalyser laws were no longer to be enforced. Lost

again my chance of shining in Court with a stunning

defence!

Saturday afternoon found several Solicitors bearing the

buffeting wind at Rosses Point to clear the head for the

night's entertainment when a great number of sinful,

ginful, rumsoaked men were to be seen capering around

the ballroom floor with their partners. The sinful amongst

them were not given much opportunity of indulging in the

licentious behaviour encouraged by soft lights and

romantic music for the musicians of Sligo, who for some

reason must have thought solicitors a slow lotto getmoving,

were intent upon giving them some strenuous exercise for the

evening. Never has there been such a moving occasion as

this seminarial dance with discs slipping all over the place as

solidly built famales were flung in the air with abandon but

with notmuch thought ofthe consequences. Lest this may be

thought a disparagement of the charms of lady solicitors

generally I must add that the band members were heard to

remark that the females presentwere "a great looking bunch

of birds" which I believe is a compliment to a lady in Sligo

terminology. Not to have them outdone by the ladies, one

Dublinfirm, I noted, appeared to have issued uniform sweat

shirts to its junior partners to be worn on the occasion, and

these looked very fetching indeed. The prize for elegant

dressing however must go to Mr. David Pigot who was the

only gentleman to wear a dinner jacket for the occasion.

Sunday morning jolted us back to the realities of life

with a talk by Brian McCracken S.C. on professional

negligence. He had some very interesting contributions to

make on this subject and the question time at the end was

all very tongue-in-cheek, with one notable and very

worthy exception, which I will not dwell upon here out of

respect for the laws of libel.

When we arrived back home I was told that the weekend

weather in Dublin had been very fine. In Sligo it had as usual

been wet, But I was able to report that the weekend had been

very fine there too notwithstanding.

—SPY

A BRIEF GUIDELINE ON THE LAW RELATING

TO ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN

With the passing of the Courts Act 1971 (hereinafter

called the 1971 Act) one could say that the first step on

the path to reforming the legal status of illegitimate

children was taken. However it was by no means a major

reforming piece of legislation, evidenced by the fact that

the maximum award which could then be granted by the

District Court under an application order was £5—the

previous maximum was £1. But the 1971 Act did enable

the mother of an illegitimate child to bring affiliation

proceedings in the High Court where there could be no

maximum limit placed on the award.

The Family Law (Maintenance of Spouses and

Children) Act 1976 (hereinafter called the 1976 Act)

heralded even more of the much needed reform in this

particular area of the law. S.28 of that Act is the relevant

section.

What Therefore Is the Present Legal Position of the

Illegitimate Child and his Unmarried Mother?

The Illegitimate Children (Affiliation Orders) Act 1930

(hereinafter called the 1930 Act) is the principal piece of

legislation in this area.

This Act enabled the mother of an

illegitimate child to bring affiliation proceedings against

the putative father. However the Act did not envisage any

third party (apart from "a local body administering the

relief of the poor then giving relief to the mother of an

illegitimate child or to an illegitimate child") taking

proceedings against the putative father, or for that matter,

against the mother. However S.-S. 4A of the 1930 Act

provides that subject to the conditions laid down in

S.-S. 4A(3), "any person"—including, it seems, the

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