The Gazette 1914-15

19

The Gazette ol the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.

JUNE, 1914]

no more than protest, and I think it is proper that we should repeat our protest here. Solicitors are pre-eminently qualified for the office of Chief Clerk, and Parliament has expressly recognised this fact in naming in the first instance that those eligible for the position should be solicitors of ten years standing. Formerly all the chief clerkships were held by solicitors ; now, out of the whole number of chief clerks and assistant • chief clerks there is only one solicitor. Let me mention another example of legal promotion of recent date. A Resident Magistrate was appointed on the 21st of March last for one of the western counties, and, in reply to a question put by Mr. O'Shee, M.P., the Chief Secretary stated the other day in the House that his qualifications for the post were that he had acted as civil and military officer in Uganda, and had been Chief of the Police at St. Vincent and Granada. We lodged a protest with the Lord Lieu tenant against this appointment as soon as we heard of it, and can anyone say that our protest was not called for ? There are 65 Resident Magistrates in Ireland, and out of the whole number there are only six qualified solicitors; 16 are barristers; and the remain ing 43 are either retired Constabulary officers jr persons previously engaged in all manner of pursuiis other than those which have any thing to do with the study or the administra tion of law. Let me read you some of the qualifications as given in the official White Paper:——"Ship and Quay Owner," " Engaged in Agricultural Pursuits," " Served in the Militia eight years," " B.A.. Oxon," " Tea Planting in India, Inspector under the Local Government Board for one year," and so on. Why should a gentleman with police experience acquired in Uganda, or with knowledge of tea planting in India, be chosen to administer justice in this country over the heads of fully qualified professional men, who have spent their lives in this country and in assisting to administer the laws of the country ? And just as it is with Resident Magistrates, so it is with many other appoint ments of a legal nature. For example, take the examinerships in the Land Commission, for which solicitors are eligible and fully qualified. There are nineteen examinerships

of the Courts here to make an order for service out of the jurisdiction on the ground that the contract sought to be enforced was made within the jurisdiction. Any such alteration would have, in our opinion, very injuriously affected the interests of not only solicitors, but of litigants in this country, and the same view has been taken by our rule- making authority, of which body the President of this Society is a member. I shall have to ask you to wait for a fuller report of this important subject until the circulation of our annual report, as also of work done in connection with the Land Commission delay list, Land Registry delay, and other matters of interest to the profession, as time will not permit me to refer to these at this meeting. But there is one other matter of great importance which I would like to bring before you—I mean the claim of solicitors to our due share of Legal Appointments, a subject which has often been discussed in this hall before, and which was brought prominently before the Council during the past year in more than one instance. Early in the year it seemed probable that a vacancy would occur in the office of Chief Clerk to the Chancery Judge. The Council wrote to the Lord Chancellor and the Chancery Judge, urging the claims of solicitors to the appoint ment; and drew attention to the provisions of the 12th Section of the Chancery Act of 1867, which prescribes that the office of Chief Clerk can only be held by a practising solicitor of ten years standing, or a person who has held some office in the Court of Chancery for seven years. The Lord Chancellor replied that the appointment rested not with him, but with the Chancery Judge, and the Judge replied stating that in the event of any vacancy occurring he would not fail to bear in mind the contents of our letter. A vacancy actually did occur on the 24th of January, and there upon our Secretary wrote to the Judge, asking him to hear the views of the Council before making an appointment. In reply the Judge wrote stating that he would always be pleased to see the President, but that he had found it necessary to fill the vacancies which had occurred in the offices of Chief Clerk and Assistant Chief Clerk, and in neither case was a solicitor appointed. The Council could do