The Gazette 1952-1955

o f section 43, may be liable to take out arrear certificates and pay the stamp duty and registration fees thereon before he is permitted to take out a certificate on an application made subsequently to the Council under section 47 o f the Solicitors’ (Ireland) Act, 1898. An assistant solicitor who transacts any business for clients on his own account should, o f course, take out a certificate to cover any professional business either in or out o f Court. SAVING THE COSTS OF APPEALS. T he Master o f the Rolls, sitting in the Court of Appeal with Lord Justice Jenkins and Lord Justice Hodson, made a statement at the hearing o f the divorce appeal which was adjourned on Thursday, to enable the members of the Court to read the transcript o f the evidence and correspondence in order to save the time which would have been taken up if the documents had been read aloud in Court. Shorthand-writer’s fees. His Lordship, referring to the report on the matter in The T im s, said that he wished to draw attention to the terms o f Order 66A which was made part of the Rules of the Supreme Court in 1940. It provided for the taking of an official shorthand note o f trials in the High Court. Payment of the fees was made out of public funds, but rule 4 o f that Order provided that any transcript required for the Court o f Appeal should be paid for by the appellant in the first instance, and the costs should, unless the Court of Appeal otherwise directed, be costs in the appeal. Rule 3 provided : “ I f the Judge intimates that in the event of an appeal his note will be sufficient, the shorthand note of the evidence need not be transcribed for the purposes o f an appeal.” By sub-rule (2) : “ I f the parties agree, or the Judge is o f opinion that the evidence or some part of the evidence o f any witness or witnesses w ou ld .. .be o f no assistance to the Court of Appeal, the shorthand note o f such evidence need not be transcribed for the purposes of an appeal.” Why evidence read in private. T he taking of a shorthand note and its transcription were skilled operations, and the costs o f transcripts for the Court of Appeal where a trial lasted many days was not inconsiderable. To a party who was not affluent, the burden would be severe. It seemed to be sometimes assumed that, where there was an appeal on a question o f fact, the whole o f the evidence should be transcribed as a matter of course. He (his Lordship) was not making a special reference to legally aided persons, and he hoped

that advantage would be taken in appropriate cases o f the provisions in the order, thus saving consider­ able costs. One powerful reason, his Lordship said, why the Court took the course o f adjourning for the members to read the evidence, was for the convenience of everybody including the parties. Had it been necessary for the transcript to be read in Court, it would probably have resulted in the hearing having to go over for an indefinite period. The objection to such a course was that it might be suggested that the Court’s decision was based on what it had read in private, and not on arguments heard in open Court. The appeal in question was dismissed (The Times newspaper). SITTINGS OF HIGH COURT OUTSIDE DUBLIN. B y a rule o f Court made on n th June (S.I. No. 131/1954) the following rule was inserted in Order X V I o f the Rules o f the High Court and Supreme Court 1926 immediately after Rule 2 thereof. An application by any party for an order for the trial o f any proceedings elsewhere than in Dublin may be made to a judge at any time before trial by motion on notice to the other party or parties to such proceedings. LAND REGISTRY STAMPS. A le t t e r has been received from the Registrar o f Titles drawing attention to the Land Registration Fee Order, 1954 (S.I. No. 128/1954) which was printed in the June issue of the Society’s Gazette. It is pointed out that practitioners when applying for copies o f documents may send Land Registry stamps for the amount o f the fixed fees without the delay and correspondence in connection with the assessment o f fees on the basis o f the length of the document which was formerly necessary. The new procedure should facilitate both solicitors ' and the officials o f the Registry. It has been decided to substitute an adhesive Revenue stamp o f 1 /- on certified copies of docu­ ments issued by the Land Registry for the impressed Revenue stamp at present required by Section 2 o f the Stamp Act, 1891. Statutory authority for this change is included in the Finance Bill, 1954. The 1 /- Revenue stamp may be an ordinary postage stamp for that value and may after the date o f the passing o f the Finance Act, be sent to the Registry with the Land Registry Stamp for the fixed standard fee prescribed by the Land Registration Fee Order, 1954. • 2 2 3.