The Gazette 1977

GAZETTE

APRIL 1977

10. Appeals

An appeal may be taken in respect of any

Maintenance Order granted by the District Court to the

Circuit Court and thence to the High Court in the normal

way. On lodgment of the Notice of Appeal liability for

payment of maintenance is suspended but if the higher

Court grants the maintenance, arrears of payment will

usually be granted back-dated to the lower Court Order.

11. Maintenance Agreements

The maintenance clause to the normal separation

Agreement has been discussed in the December Gazette.

Where a Maintenance Agreement in writing is made after

the 1976 Act, application may be made to the High

Court or Circuit Court to have this made a rule of Court.

Application is by Notice of Motion grounded on an

Affidavit setting out the facts of the case and exhibiting

the Agreement. If the Court thinks the Agreement is

SPRING SEMINAR 1977

The Society's Spring Seminar will be held at the

Mount Brandon Hotel, Tralee on 23rd and 24th

April 1977. The Committee have chosen

Employment and Labour Law and Practice as the

principal topic. It appeared to us that Solicitors are

getting an increasing number of queries both from

employers and employees about their respective

rights and obligations and that in view of the

number of recent and proposed statutes it would be

useful to hear about the workings of 'Industrial

Tribunals'. Solicitors do not often appear before

these but it can happen. Clients will also expect their

solicitor to be able to inform them of the form which

the hearing before such Tribunals will take even if

they are not seeking representation. The important

changes introduced by the 1976 Planning Act seem

to merit a lecture. There will be three lectures

pertaining to Employment and Labour Law and one

on the 1976 Planning Act. As arranged these are:-

(1) James O'Driscoll (Senior Counsel)

The effect of Recent Case and Statute Law on

the Common Law Employment/Employee

relationship.

(2) Ercus Stewart (Barrister-at-law)

The Law and Practice of the Labour Court.

(3) John Doherty (Divisional Director, F.U.E.)

The Law and Practice of the Labour Court,

Redundancy Appeals Tribunal and Rights

Commissioner.

(4) Richard Woulfe (Solicitor, Limerick

Corporation)

The Local Government (Planning and

Development) Act 1976.

Detailed programmes and Application Forms have

been circulated to all members of the Law Society.

There will be reserved carriages in trains

Dublin/Tralee/Dublin on Friday 22nd and Sunday

24th April.

reasonable it will deem it to be a Maintenance Order.

This gives it the advantage of enforceability—where the

Maintenance Agreement has an increase clause based

on the cost of living you now have a Maintenance Order

enforceable under the 1976 Act with automatic

increases. There is no other provision in the 1976 Act

for au t oma t ic i n c r e a se in Ma i n t e n a n ce

Orders—application for increase is otherwise only

possible by issuing a new Maintenance Summons.

12. Miscellaneous details to bear in mind

(a) A spouse cannot contract out of his liability to pay

maintenance.

(b) Maintenance Orders can be discharged, varied or

terminated on application to the Court — they will

automatically be discharged where children become old

enough to be no longer eligible.

(c) Where an application under the 1886 Act fails, the

matter is

resjudicata

and cannot be redecided in the light

of the 1976 Act — see Downey v. Downey — (1943)

., J

. Rep. 72. per Davitt

(d) Where all else fails consider having the husband

prosecuted under the Public Assistance Act 1939 as a

vagrant for failure to maintain his wife and children.

(e) If you are dealing with any maintenance

proceedings it is very advisable to obtain a copy of the

Maintenance of Spouses & Children Act 1976 Rules

1976 (Statutory Instrument No. 96 of 76) which

details all of the procedures and the forms necessary

under the Act.

DO YOU KNOW THAT there is no obligation on the

owner of a motor cycle to insure against damage

sustained by a pillion passenger whilst travelling on the

motor cycle. In fact, the Road Traffic (Compulsory

Insurance) Regulations 1962 (S.l. No. 14 of 1962)

includes the "Pillion passenger" as an "excepted person"

for the purposes of Sections 56 and 65 of the Road

Traffic Act, 1961.

Consequently, if a pillion passenger is injured due to

the negligent driving of the owner of the motor cycle, he

may never be compensated for his injuries if the owner of

the motor cycle is a "bad mark". The Motor Insurance

Bureau of Ireland will not pay compensation on foot of

the Judgement obtaining against the motor cycle owner,

as the motor cycle owner has no ability to cover a

pillion passenger by an approved Policy of Insurance.

Furthermore, even if a motor cycle owner did wish to

take out cover for his pillion passenger, he would find no

insurance Company prepared to take on the risk at any

price.

THE HIGH COURT - PROBATE

The overall size of all grants issuing from the PROBATE Office is

being altered to the E.E.C. size, A. 4. (Approximately 8J" x 11J")-

Accordingly, Engrossments of Wills lodged in the Probate Office on

and from the 1st April 1977 must not exceed this size and must

include within the overall measurement a margin of 1|" on the left-

hand side of the Engrossment.

P. Waldron, Probate Officer.

3 8