The Gazette 1991

GAZETT INCORPORATE D LAWSOCIET Y OF IRELAND Vol. 85 No . 4May 199 1 Viewpoint

may 1991

g a z e t t e

In this Issue

Viewpoint

139

Role of the Actuary in the assessment of damages 141 Younger Members News 1 53 People & Places 154 SADSI - mixed soccer 1 56 Title to Land in Hony Kong - A brief review with reference to the relevance of Irish Law 1 57 Conveyancing Handbook 1 59 The Future of the Land Registry and Registry of Deeds 160 Book Reviews 163 Lawbrief 165 Professional Information 169

regulation of solicitors' fees is the statutory one governing conveyanc- ing fees. Not many solicitors will be sorry to see the abolition of the scale fee which has become increasingly irrelevant to the cost of the provision of the services covered by it. Price competition in the residential market, in Dublin at least, has been a factor for many years and in recent years price competition has entered the major commercial lending market also. Meeting the balance of paying a reasonable price and getting a reasonable service may be difficult to achieva We would not need consumer protection legislation if all out competition were to be desirabla The Minister has expressed res- ervations about Law Society or local Bar Association recommended scales of charges. If the Minister wants to ensure that the client is given a reasonable indication of the likely charges before a legal trans- action is commenced, it is difficult to see how this can be done if a solicitor is asked to carry out a transaction of a type which he has not dealt with previously unless he gets some indication from recom- mended scales of charges as to what the likely level of fees should ba Guess work or checking with colleagues who may have little more experience of such transactions would not be very satisfactory from the client's point of view. The distillation of the experience of colleagues who have regularly dealt w i t h such transactions into recommended charges should not be discouraged. The experience is that these charges are regarded as guidelines and are negotiabla They should be permitted to remain. •

It is to be hoped that the enthusiasm being expressed by the Minister for Industry & Commerce about the new Competition Bill will be matched by equal enthusiasm for its application, particularly in the area of Semi-State or other State sponsored bodies. Many of the monopolies or dominant positions in the Irish economy are held by such bodies. Originally their existence was justified by the absence of participation by the private sector in the provision of the products or services concerned. Without encouraging a Thatcherite privatisation campaign there is clearly room for competition in areas wh i ch have previously been dominated by the State sector. While the removal of the cumbersome Restrictive Practices Acts procedures with their lengthy enquiries and largely unimplemented reports is to be welcomed, concern must be expressed about the statement in the explanatory memorandum of the Bill that "existing orders made under the Restrictive Practice Acts will be revoked". Hopefully this means that they will be revoked on a phased basis for the procedures envisaged in the new Bill, welcome though they are, including as they do, recourse to the Courts, cannot of their nature be instantaneous in operation. It would be highly unsatisfactory if any sector which has been the subject of a Restrictive Practices Order were to be freed from restriction until such time as the procedures under the new legislation can be invoked. For the solicitors' profession there is a delicious irony in the enthusiasm of the Minister for the encouragement of competition and in particular price competition. The only legally enforceable price

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Executive Editor: Mary Gaynor Committee: Eamonn G. Hall, Chairman Michael V. O'Mahony, Vice-Chairman

John F. Buckley Patrick McMahon

Advertising: Seán Ó hOisín. Telephone: 305236 Fax: 307860 Printing: Turner's Printing Co. Ltd., Longford. * The views expressed in this publication, save where otherwise indicated, are the views of the contributors and not necessarily the views of the Council of the Society. The appearance of an advertisement in this publication does not necessarily indicate approval by the Society for the product or service advertised. Published at Blackhall Place, Dublin 7. Tel.: 710711. Telex: 31219. Fax: 710704.

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