1 Telephone No.
2607
Registered
Telegraphic Address
"Law Society Dublin" The INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND,
SOLICITORS BUILDINGS, FOUR COURTS,
DUBLIN. 19th. July, 1916. Dear Sir, I am directed by the Council to send you enclosed memorandum
relative to the suggested legislation for the government of Ireland as
affecting this Society and the Solicitors' profession. Faithfully yours, W.G. Wakely
Secretary. Right Hon. The Under Secretary for Ireland,
Dublin Castle,
D u b l i n. 2 The Incorporated Law Society of Ireland. Memorandum relative to the suggested Legislation for the
Government of Ireland.
THE INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND. The Incorporated Law Society of Ireland was founded by the Royal
Charter of 5th April 1852. Its membership consists of "persons being
" Attorneys or Solicitors practising in our Courts of Justice within that
" part of our said United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
" Ireland, or who shall have voluntarily retired from practice." By Supplemental Charter of 14th December, 1888, it is (inter alia)
provided that five members of the Northern Law Society and five
members of the Southern Law Association and a member from each of
the four Provinces be members of the Council of the Society, in addition to
the thirty-one ordinary members provided for by the Original Charter. By Statute 29 and 30 Victoria, cap. 84, the Incorporated Law
Society was made the Registrar of Solicitors in Ireland. This Act was
repealed by the Solicitors (Ireland) Act, 1898, 61 and 62 Victoria,
cap. 17, which re-enacted the provision of the previous Act making the
Society the Registrar. Every practising Solicitor in Ireland must, by
the Statute, obtain each year a certificate from the Society as the
Registrar, enabling him, upon its being stamped, to practise his profession
and the Statute requires that each Solicitor shall pay to the Society a
fee of five shillings for such annual certificate. The Society is, by the above Statutes, made the educational and
examining body for the admission of Solicitors in Ireland, and the
Statutes require that every person seeking to become a Solicitor in
Ireland shall pay to the Society certain prescribed fees. By the Act of 1898 a Committee of the Council is appointed to
hear and report upon disciplinary applications against Irish Solicitors.
The Society is the custodian of the Roll of Solicitors in Ireland. The Incorporated Law Society of Ireland respectfully submit that
the status of the Society, as the governing and educational body of the
Solicitors' profession in Ireland, should not be affected or altered by the
contemplated legislation and that the Society should continue to exercise
its statutable functions over the Solicitors practising in every part of
Ireland. Should it, however, be determined by Parliament that there shall
be set up a separate governing body of the Solicitors' profession for the
Counties of Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and 3 Tyrone and the Cities of Belfast and Londonderry and that the
Incorporated Law Society of Ireland should be thus compulsorily deprived
of a portion of its statutable rights and privileges, it is submitted that
the Society should be compensated for the loss of revenue when it will
suffer as a consequence, and in support of this claim, the following facts
are submitted: — The income of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland is mainly
derived from —
(1) Members' subscriptions.
(2) Examination fees.
(3) The 5/- annual certificate fee from all practising Solicitors.
(4) The Solicitors' admission fees.
(5) A grant in aid from Parliament in respect of disciplinary
proceedings, varying in amount from £300 to £500
per annum. The present number of members of the Society resident in the
Counties and Cities to be excluded is 129 out of a total membership of
828. The number of practising Solicitors resident in the Counties and
Cities to be excluded is 441 out of a total number in Ireland of 1,528. The average annual loss of income to the Society under the foregoing
heads, consequent upon the cessation of the jurisdiction of the Society
over the Counties and Cities to be excluded, would be about —
(1) Subscriptions .. £100
(2) Examination fees .. £400
(3) Certificate fees .. £110
(4) Admission fees .. £130 This means the loss of £740 per annum out if a total average annual
income of £3,300. The exclusion of the six Counties and two Cities would not mean
that the Society could, as a consequence, reduce its expenditure. The
existing educational staff — consisting of two Professors and three Ex-
aminers — would have to be continued to be employed. The Secretarial
staff, consisting of a Secretary, Librarian and three Clerks would still
be necessary. The Society is in the exceptional position in Ireland of being a
Voluntary Society, unconnected with the Government, with powers and
duties cast upon it by Statute which it exercises over the whole Solicitors'
profession in Ireland, and it has been possessed of such statutable
jurisdiction for the past fifty years. It is submitted that, if the Society is now to be deprived of some of
its statutable jurisdiction and of a portion of its revenue, it would be
entitled to compensation from the State in respect of that portion of its
annual income of which it would be compulsorily deprived. 4 The Society desire further to submit that it would be inequitable
to deprive Irish Solicitors whose names are now on the Roll of Solicitors,
or any apprentice to an Irish Solicitor, at present serving under Identures
of Apprenticeship, when admitted, of their right to practise in every part
of Ireland. The Solicitor has been admitted a Solicitor of the Supreme
Court in Ireland, with a statutable right to practise everywhere in Ireland,
and he has paid his stamp duties to the Crown, and his fees, on the faith
of a Statute giving him such a right. The apprentice has paid his stamp
duties and fees on the faith of a Statute providing that he shall acquire
such right, upon serving his apprenticeship, and passing his examinations
and being admitted as required by the Statute. It is submitted that, so far as the rights and privileges of the
Solicitors' profession in Ireland are concerned, there should be no
provision passed into law whereby two branches of the Solicitors' pro-
fession should in future exist in Ireland, the one for twenty-six Counties
the other for the remaining six Counties. There are in the City of Dublin a number of practising Solicitors
who would be particularly affected by the establishment of a separate
Solicitors' profession for the Counties of Antrim, Armagh, Down,
Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone, and the Cities of Belfast and
Londonderry, i.e., those Dublin Solicitors who at present act as "Dublin
Agents" of Solicitors who practise in those six Counties and two Cities. These Solicitors would be compulsorily deprived of their salaries
and emoluments as such Agents, and some of them would be left
without employment. Should the intended legislation have the effect
of making their services as Town Agents unnecessary it is submitted
that they are deserving of generous consideration at the hands of the
State. SOLICITORS' BUILDINGS, FOUR COURTS,
DUBLIN, 5th July, 1916. 5 The Incorporated Law Society of Ireland. 5th day of July, 1916. Memorandum RELATIVE TO THE SUGGESTED
LEGISLATION FOR THE
GOVERNMENT OF
IRELAND. SOLICITORS' BUILDINGS, FOUR COURTS,
DUBLIN.