Irish Law Times/Volume 1/Number 1/The Irish Law Times
The Irish Law Times,
Dublin, February 2, 1867.
We now issue the first number of this Journal, fully relying on the many assurances we have received of cordial support and co-operation; and our confidence in this respect is not the less when we bear in mind that this publication was first conceived solely with a view to the advancement of the interests of the profession in this country, and is now undertaken in the same spirit, and with the same paramount object, and not merely as a speculation that will be profitable to the promoters. For this reason, too, our first number, though not purely experimental, cannot be expected fully to satisfy the proposed object of this Journal, but must be regarded as chiefly intended to entitle us to receive that full measure of support, which is an essential condition of its more complete organization and success.
Although the prospectus already issued fully explains the objects proposed to be attained, the present appears to be a fitting occasion to place before our readers, in a more permanent form, the motives which have induced us to embark in this undertaking, and the principles on which we propose to conduct it.
The want of a publication exclusively devoted to the interests of our profession has never been so much felt as at the present time, when new powers and privileges of vast extent and importance have been, by a recent legislative enactment, conferred on the representatives of the general body of the attorneys and solicitors of this country.
The Irish Law Times and Solicitors' Journal has been undertaken to supply this want, with the view of aiding the Incorporated Law Society in the faithful and satisfactory discharge of its duties; and affording, at the same time, to every member of the profession the means of fully and freely discussing all subjects of importance to the general body.
Although mainly designed, in the first instance, for the legal public, this Journal will be found to embrace a far more extended sphere of utility. It will contain much that will prove interesting and important to the general public, but more especially to the mercantile community.
The plan we have proposed to ourselves is to supply early and accurate information, obtained from the most authentic official sources, as to the particulars and progress of the various matters pending in the several courts and offices, besides the earliest intimation of any circumstance in connexion with such proceedings which may be of general interest and importance. And this information is not intended to be limited to a mere list of names and cases, as an arrangement has been effected, under the sanction of the Council of Law Reporting in Ireland, with the gentlemen of the Bar now engaged in reporting (for that body) in the several courts of law and equity, by which the subscribers to this Journal will be furnished with short notes of current decisions in the shape of weekly notes, which will be found by both branches of the profession to form a most useful supplement to the Irish reports now in progress.
Each number will contain short comments upon current and general topics of legal interest; and in each will be given, so far as same may have been fixed for the ensuing week, the business of the courts, especially of the Landed Estates' Court and the Court of Bankruptcy and Insolvency.
It is also intended to publish, from time to time, reports of points of practice decided at the Assizes, and such decisions of Courts of Quarter Sessions as will prove valuable to the practitioners in these courts.
It will be our especial care to supply to Law Students the earliest and fullest intelligence as to examinations and lectures.
While we freely open our columns to correspondents it must be understood that every communication shall be carefully excluded from our pages which is of a purely personal nature, or calculated in any way to disturb that good understanding between the different branches of the legal profession, which is so essential to their well-being.
Our subscribers will thus be furnished with information upon all public matters connected with the profession which can either serve or interest them.
We publish in another column the particulars of the prizes which the Council of the Incorporated Society of Attorneys and Solicitors propose to establish, to be competed for both at the preliminary and final examination of apprentices. It is gratifying to see that the Society are prepared so soon to redeem the pledges given to the public in their statement in support of the Attorneys' and Solicitors' Act of last session. They then insisted with great force on the claims of the profession to an improved and higher test of education, and urged that much might be effected in that direction when the interest of those most directly concerned were allied with powers of self-government and proper and fitting inducements to higher exertion held out to candidates. It is obvious that the very great advantages which must result, both to the profession and the public, from the educational tests now required, will be largely enhanced by making the examinations competitive, and thus creating among the candidates a healthy spirit of emulation and anxiety for distinction. Of the utility of an examination (immediately previous to admission to practice) in subjects exclusively professional we do not believe any one has ever expressed a doubt; objections have, however, occasionally been urged against the expediency of requiring from candidates for apprenticeship a certain degree of proficiency in the elements of a liberal education. These objections are two-fold, and, indeed, opposite: one class of objectors urge that the required standard is so low as not to be a sufficient test of general education and capacity. Now, although we should much prefer to see the standard higher, and believe the move made by the Incorporated Law Society to be a step in the right direction, yet we cannot admit that the fact of the present test not being in every respect perfectly satisfactory is any valid reason for its total abolition. To the other class of objectors, who urge that the required standard is so high as to prevent many deserving young men, who fail to qualify, from entering the profession, the answer is plain—such is the very object of the examination, to exclude from the ranks of a profession that requires a high degree of intelligence men who do not possess faculties capable of mastering the very rudiments of a liberal education, or who have not the energy and perseverance sufficient to enable them to do so, whose admission would bring little credit to the profession, and who would be by no means fitted for its varied and responsible duties. This whole subject was, in the year 1846, very fully considered by a select committee of the House of Commons. We extract from their excellent report the following remarks upon the subject of the qualifications then proposed, and which were much higher than those at present required:—"If the requirements demanded are somewhat higher than what might be expected from opportunities at present within the reach of the generality of young clerks—they assuredly are not higher than what are found to be indispensable in after-life for even a decent discharge of professional duties." And the committee go on to say, that the conclusion at which they had arrived, after the most careful consideration, was, that "The establishing thus, at the outset, a high standard of education for apprentices would effect in a marked manner the entire remainder of their course—it would enable them to profit by such instruction as might be within their reach—it would lay a foundation on which they might build future acquisitions, which, without such foundation, might probably never have been thought of; and though not of itself synonymous, with those gentlemanly principles and conduct upon which so much stress was laid, it would at least furnish a high probability that they had not been neglected." On the passing of the Act of 1861, conferring on law clerks of ten years' standing the privilege of admission after three years' service, it was sought to introduce clauses which (had they passed into law) would, in a great degree, have rendered the rules regarding these examinations inoperative; but this intention was defeated by the exertions of the Law Society; and such clerks were, by that Act, expressly required to be examined in pursuance of the Benchers' rules. Subsequently the law clerks presented a memorial to the Benchers, seeking to have these rules relaxed in their case; but the Benchers wisely and properly made no concession in their favour, nor did they in any instance, that we are aware of, dispense with the preliminary examination. We earnestly hope that the judges who themselves, as Benchers, were the first to sanction these rules, and to whom is now reserved a discretionary power of controlling the action of the Incorporated Law Society, will adhere to these principles on which they have hitherto acted, and will warmly support the efforts of the Council to raise the intellectual and social status of the profession, and thus secure its true efficiency and influence.