The Gazette 1944-46

at the end or sooner determination of "the tenancy." The tenant furthei undertook to paint the interior of the premises "in the last quarter of the said term." The tenant having elected to terminate the lease at the end of the fifth year the question arose as to whether the expression "the last quarter of the said term" in the painting covenant should be construed as applying only to the term of seven years created by the lease or whether it was also referable to the substituted term of five years arising from the exercise by the tenant of his option to determine. The landlords contended that the expression "term" in the painting covenant included the abbreviated term of five years and were upheld by the English High Court. This decision was reversed by the Court of Appeal. Lord Justice Goddard referred to the use of the expression "tenancy" in the repairing covenant which clearly referred to the period of the term, whether it was five or seven years, and the words "the said term" in the painting covenant which could only mean the term of seven yeais in the habendum. If, he said, parties to a lease use in one covenant an expression which shows that they have in mind obligations to arise at the end of the tenancy, whether that be at the end of one period or of another, according as to whether or not the tenant exercises an option which is given to him, and in the next covenant they use an expression which prima facie applies only to the full term created by the lease, the proper rule of construction to apply is that they mean something different in the two covenants. It was held, accordingly, that as the lease had been terminated before the expiration of the term indicated by the painting covenant that covenant had not come into operation against the tenant. tter "Without Prejudice". EVERY practising solicitor knows the amount of time spent by the profession in endeavouring to persuade clients to avoid litigation, or having become involved in it to settle their differences by compromise without recourse to the final process of law. One of the most familiar and valuable methods of smoothing the obstacles in the way of settling litigation is the letter written "without prejudice" in the knowledge that admissions and disclosures contained therein will not be used in evidence against the writer. 29 .Lei TEv

MK. WILLIAM TALBOT PHIBBS, Solicitor, died on 1st October, 1944. at his residence, Quay Street, Sligo. Mr. Phibbs served his apprenticeship with the late Mr. John R. Lloyd, Dublin, was admitted in Hilary Sittings, 1903, and practised at Sligo under the style of Argue and Phibbs. MR. WILLIAM IRELAND GOOD, Solicitor, died on 4th October, 1944, in England. Mr. Good served his apprenticeship with the late Mr. Thomas C. Franks, Dublin, was admitted in Hilary Sittings, 1898, and practised with Mr. Edwin N. Edwards under the style of Edwards and Good, at 12 Molesworth Street, Dublin, until 1917, when he retired. Mn. WILLIAM HUNTER. Solicitor, died on 17th October, 1944, at his residence, Baymount, Sutton, Co. Dublin. Mr. Hunter was admitted in Trinity Sittings, 1892, and practised under the style of Hunter & Burland at 11, Dame Street, Dublin. MR. HENRY F. BRENAN, Solicitor, died on 25th October, 1944, at his residence, The Bungalow, Tullamore. Mr. Brenan served his apprenticeship with the late Mr. Richard A. Macnamara, Dublin, was admitted in Michaelmas Sittings, 1907, and practised as partner of the firm of Hoey & Denning of Dublin and Tullamore. Wise Drafting. THE case of Dickinson v. St. Aubyn (1944 1 K.B. 454) is a good illustration of the unforeseen consequences which may attend the unwise practice of using several different terms through out a lease or other similar document to express a single meaning, when the same result can be achieved more simply, if less elegantly, by the use of identical expressions throughout the instrument. In the case referred to landlords had granted to a tenant a lease of premises for the term of seven years containing a proviso entitling the tenant to terminate the tenancy at the end of the fifth year. The lease also contained the usual covenant by the tenant to keep the prem ises in good repair and condition and to deliver up the premises in the like repair and condition CURRENT TOPICS.