The Gazette 1977

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER

GAZETTE

COUNCIL OF THE SOCIETY

Recommendation of the Conveyancing Com- mittee of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland with regard to Registry of Deeds Searches. In the Edition of the Gazette dated November, 1976, a recommendation of the Conveyancing Committee was published recommending that from the 1st of January, 1977, Dublin Practitioners should in sales of individual properties adopt the Country practice of the purchaser making all searches. The recommendation specifically mentioned that the practice on a building estate of the Vendor lodging a Master Search and distributing certified copies in due course should be continued as it was the most logical method of dealing with it. It has been brought to our notice that some solicitors acting for Builders on Building Estates, are not lodging a Master Search and have cited as their authority the Conveyancing Committee's recommendation of November, 1976. We would like to draw the attention of Solicitors to the fact that the recommendation of the Conveyancing Com- mittee did not suggest any change in the practice regarding master searches on Building Estates. Presentation of Parchments The next Presentation of Parchments will take place on Thursday, 1st December, 1977, at 4 p.m. Apprentices whose indentures have expired and have passed all the Society's examinations and who wish to receive their parchments should lodge with the Society on or before 18th November, their full name and address in Irish and English together with a Form AE 5 completed by the apprentice and the master. Please note that no applications will be accepted after 18th November, 1977. RESIGNATION OF MR. PATRICK NOONAN The President announced at the Council Meeting of 15th September, that Mr. Patrick Noonan had resigned from the Council. Mr. Noonan was President of the Society in 1967/68 when the International Bar Association held their meeting in Dublin. The President and members of the Council expressed regret at losing Mr. Noonan's services and thanked him for the services he had rendered to the Council. COMPANY FORMATION Over recent months, lengthy delays were experienced in obtaining names from the Companies Office.Following repeated representations, Mr. N. MacLiam, Assistant Secretary, Department of Industry & Commerce, has written to the Director General:— 138

"I have looked into the situation in the Companies Office which you raised in your letter of the 12th. I find that, owing to a staff bottle neck, there is in fact as you say a lag of six weeks in incorporating companies. There is to be an O & M inspection of the Office this month, and I hope it will be possible to do something which will enable this position to be improved. "I am unhappy at your reference to "the generally unsatisfactory performance of the Companies Office". From my examination of the position, and indeed from the tributes paid by a number of solicitors dealing with it, I feel that the Office in general gives a particularly helpful, prompt and courteous service. There do not appear to be any delays other than in the one under-staffed section we have been talking about. May I say that having spent some time looking at the work of that section I would feel satisfied that it could be quite up-to-date with its existing staff were it not that an extraordinarily high number of applications sent in by solicitors are in a most unsatisfactory state. One example quoted to me — I do not of course suggest that it is typical —was that out of seventeen applications received on a particular day fourteen had to be returned for amendment in one respect or another and only three could be accepted for incorporation. Anything that could be done to improve the standard of submissions for solicitors would be more than welcome". The requirements of the Companies Office as to Company Names are set out below. COMPANIES ACT, 1962 AVAILABILITY OF NAMES FOR PROPOSED COMPANIES Members will recollect that any name considered undesirable may be rejected pursuant to Section 21 of the Companies Act, 1963. Names will not be acceptable, for instance, which: (a) imply State sponsorship. (b) are barred or restricted by legislation; a company name may not consist of or contain the words "Standard", "Caighdean" or the initials I.S. or C.E. nor may the words "Bacon Producers" be used. Such words as "Bank", "Banker", "Banking", etc. may be used only with the consent of the Central Bank. (c) are so similar, by sight or by sound to the names of existing registered companies as to cause confusion in the public mind. (d) contain words that are so general in meaning as to cause confusion with companies already registered, or which would seem to assume solerights to a particular field of business e.g. "Plastics Limited" or "Irish Plastics Limited". Not* — The availability of a particular name is open to reconsideration up to the date of incorporation and applicants who incur expenses on the assumption that the name will be approved do so at their own risk.