The Gazette 1958-61

was pronounced, the Council of the Society sought an interview with the Minister for Justice to ask for amending legislation to establish a new disci– plinary system. TheMinister for Justice and the officers of his Department met our deputation most sympa– thetically and gave us an assurance that such legis– lation would be brought forward immediately. The Council have already submitted to the Department a memorandum dealing with the matter and they have been in constant touch with the Department of Justice since then. I hope and believe that we shall have new legislation passed through the Ddil and Seanad before the Summer recess. It will be realised that this is a most difficult and complicated matter and must be approached with the greatest care and in the greatest detail, and I can assure you that the Council will spare no effort whatsoever to recover the necessary disciplinary powers which are so essential to the proper rule and supervision of our profession. SOLICITORS' ACCOUNTS REGULATION. The Solicitors Account Regulations were settled and passed some years ago and by now every member of our profession knows the tenor or these regulations and what they contain. Shortly it may be said that they provide that every solicitor shall keep his clients' money separately from his own and that he shall keep his clients' money in a client account at a bank. Clients' moneys may be dealt with only in the manner provided by these Regula– tions ; and in addition a solicitor shall at all times keep properly written-up such books and accounts as may be necessary to show all his dealings with and particulars of, and information as to clients' moneys, and may be required to submit his accounts at any time to the Council for scrutiny. By an Order dated the jth December, 1957, signed by me as President by direction of the Council and by the Chief Justice, the regulations dealing with the keeping of proper books of account were brought into operation on the ist January, 1958, and they have been in operation since that date. By the same Order it was provided that the re– mainder of the Solicitors' Accounts Regulations shall come into operation on the ist July next, and after that date every solicitor practising in Ireland will be bound by these regulations and must carry out their requirements in accurate detail. From the ist July next every solicitor must open and keep a client account at a bank and into this account he must pay all moneys which he receives on behalf of his client as provided in Part II of the Regulations nor can he withdraw any clients' money from a client account except as therein set out.

exercised, could not properly be described as limited within the means of Article 37. The Court decided that the powers and functions assigned the Disciplinary Committee were not " limited powers and functions ", that the Com– mittee was administering justice, and that " such a tribunal unless composed of Judges is unconsti– tutional." The Court held that the two appellants were not validly struck off the roll of solicitors. The position, therefore, is now that the Incorpora– ted Law Society has a Disciplinary Committee which has no powers of any kind whatsoever. It cannot investigate complaints brought before it, it cannot suspend a solicitor from practice, it cannot fine him, it cannot strike his name from the roll of solicitors, nor, lastly, can it order a solicitor to make restitution or satisfaction to any aggrieved party. This state of affairs is so serious and so gravely affects the profession and the public that it cannot be allowed to continue. And, furthermore, I under– stand that this decision not only affects the solicitors' profession, but also may well affect in like manner other professions than ours who must equally be seriously disturbed. The decision of the Supreme Court in this case is in my view the most far-reaching interpretation of the Constitution which has yet been given by our Courts. It has, I think, been generally thought down to the present that Article 37 of the Constitution, which deals with limited powers of a judicial nature, authorised the Oireachtas to set up vocational bodies for various professions with disci– plinary jurisdiction including power to exclude practitioners for proved misconduct, subject to an appeal to the Courts. That view is no longer correct if the effect of the assigned disciplinary powers is to affect profoundly those against whom they are exercised in their property, fortunes or reputation. When the Society accepted the obligation to establish the Compensation Fund and to provide full indem– nity for clients from 1960 onwards, it was thought essential in the interests of the financial stability of the Fund to secure the powers which have now been held to be invalid. The necessary counterpart of the Compensation Fund is a fair, effective and speedy disciplinary procedure. It is also necessary that the Society should have effective powers to forestall and prevent defalcations. Without such protection the Council cannot ensure that the Fund will be solvent. It is now the immediate duty of the Council to seek powers which will be both effective and constitu– tional so that the public and the profession may not continue to suffer serious injury from the actions of a small number of dishonest practitioners. As soon as the judgment of the Supreme Court