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We will maintain our attitude towards any provisions which
do not appear to be in the public interest. Irishmen and women
seldom if ever make inofficious Wills if they make a Will at
all.
I have heard from a reliable source that the number of
Grants of Probate and Grants of Administration Intestate are
more or less equal in number. I, personally feel that if a man
wants his family to share his assets, he can refrain from
making a will and achieve the desired effect. If he wants to
change this, he can make a will but his power and right to
leave his property as he wishes should not be curtailed.
If
wives or husbands have fixed rights, it really means that every
married man or woman must compulsorily die intestate as to
part of his estate and this I feel is altogether wrong. My
predecessor mentioned in his address that 8.77 of the Old
Bill dealing with witnessing of wills was being kept. Since
then, I believe better counsels have prevailed and I note that
the old law in this respect has remained unchanged.
The time has been too short for the Council to make a
thorough examination of the New Bill. I only succeeded in
getting it last Thursday. I would welcome the views of any
solicitors or Bar Associations on the provisions contained in it.
EXCEPTED BODY STATUS
For a long time, agitation was rife among solicitors employed
by Corporate Bodies, Local Government authorities and
analogous bodies. They had no body which could represent
them in any claim or dispute concerning salaries or conditions
of employment. They approached the Law Society to help
them and I am glad to be able to say that after negotiations had
taken place between the Department of Industry & Commerce
and ourselves with strong support from Local Government
Solicitors' Association that the Minister made an Order on
zgth March, 1965 giving the Law Society "exempted body"
status under S.6 (6) of Trade Union Act, 1941. This means
that if ever a dispute does arise that we can sally forth for the
protection of our brethren who may need our help in this
matter. We are grateful to the Minister for acceding to our
application which we feel in justice was well founded.
COMPENSATION FUND
The Committee dealing with this fund have worked very
hard. They have examined every case that came before them
and are not in the slightest degree in arrears. All proven cases
have been disposed of and the Claimants paid. We have
achieved the desired effect proposed by the Solicitors Act.
No person who has been defrauded by a Solicitor has been
unpaid if he, the applicant, has proved his claim and as well as
this we have succeeded in building up a substantial reserve.
There is a possibility that the question of reducing the annual
contribution may come up for consideration by the Council
after the Summer Recess but such reduction might not be
possible till next year. I personally feel but I do not now speak
for the Council that it might be reduced as the effect of the
Solicitors Act and particularly of the Accounts Regulations
made under it are now beginning to be felt. There has not
been in the last year any really serious defalcation by any
solicitor in the entire country and I am proud to be able to
say this.
The Council as ever are taking an active interest in the educ
ation of apprentices and with the help and co-operation of the
Lecturers and Examiners are doing their utmost to keep the
curriculum up to date and to ensure that the utmost we can
do to help to educate our apprentices is being done all the time.
As you have heard, we did submit a Memorandum to the
Commission on Higher Education and a deputation attended
on the Commission. We await their report eagerly. The
number of apprentices seems to have increased this year
and we await future developments to see if this continues.
Not all qualified solicitors practice as such. The qualification
of a solicitor does now seem to be a form of "Open Sesame"
to many careers in industry and public life. I could name many
persons holding high offices in Public and Semi-State Bodies
who are in fact qualified solicitors. This is pleasing and does
help to ensure that our profession is not overcrowded. There
can only be room for a limited number of solicitors in a small
country like ours and despite very common misconceptions
to the contrary taken as a whole, solicitors are not a wealthy
class of persons unless their incomes are supplemented by
other private means.
Mr. Desmond Collins in his address last December said that
the Council had obtained a draft Standard Form of Contract
for sales by Public Auction and Private Treaty. Many meetings
were held by a selected Sub Committee to go into this matter
in great detail and the draft was settled, resubmitted to Counsel
and reconsidered by the Committee. This Committee had a
final special interview with Counsel and all outstanding matters
were dealt with and the Council directed publication. In the
meantime, the Land Act, 1965 became law and certain extra
clauses were considered necessary. As soon as these are settled
we will proceed to have the forms printed and made available
to the profession in general. If general use is made of them, it
should help to ease the negotiation stage a little but it must be
borne in mind that the real work is done in preparing the
special conditions, space for which will be provided by way
of Schedules. The contracts will not have the effect of making
conveyancing any easier or less exacting or make for any real
simplification of the important and arduous work carried out
by solicitors in investigation of title. It will enable them to be
relieved of niggling details and allow them to concentrate on
the heart of the matter and in this way make for more accurate
conveyancing and the general improvement as far as may be
possible of the high standard of work already carried out by
the solicitors' profession in this field of their activity.
The provision of £225,270 in an estimate for the Land
Registry and Registry of Deeds is said to be mainly due to
increased remuneration. This may be so but the fact still
remains that considerable delays do exist in the services which
are being rendered by both places, especially the Land Registry.
The Minister hoped he might bring the Registration of Tide
Act, 1964 into operation before the end of the year. If he does,
he must do it in a very limited way unless he creates further
space for staff and documents and succeeds in getting the
necessary extra staff. I feel that the failure to get staff up to this
was due to the remuneration offered not being attractive enough
to induce practising lawyers to forego the glamour, if I may
use the word, of private practice for the possibly rather
monotonous routine of a Government job.
As against this, the Minister has said that he intended to
improve the Land Registry by adding two storeys to the
office and sought to attract twice the number of staff by
increased rates of pay.
I hope he will be successful and that his target of having the
extension in operation next year will be achieved but I feel I
must voice my doubts in the matter ; the arrears must be cleared
first.
This question of arrears and lack of sufficient staffin Govern
ment offices, particularly in the High Court is a constant source
of worry to the Council. Complaints come in regularly to us
and representations made to the Department of Justice seem
to have little effect. The Accounts Office in the High Court
has come in for particular mention recently. There seems no
reason why copies of accounts could not be obtained quickly.
Banks and Building Societies and Insurance Companies can
give out copy account with ease and celerity. Photo copying
is the rule everywhere to-day and machines are available in the
Courts.
Other offices have merited mention but improvements have
been made.
It is something however that the Departments
of Justice and Finance should look into as the work in many