The Bulletin August 2018

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Despite Lord Polonius’ advice,
credit makes the world go round.
TIM MELLOR, PRESIDENT
As you see, the theme of this month’s
Bulletin deals particularly with debt
and insolvency.
Most of us have been the recipients of
sage-like parental advice, or have delivered
such advice to our children. In Hamlet,
Shakespeare provides us with an example
of such a speech on the part of the
character of Lord Polonius. Whilst he is
portrayed as something of an old duffer,
he was nonetheless a fond and caring
father who was anxious to convey his
wisdom to his son, the departing Laertes.
Those words of wisdom, of course,
include the well-known injunction:
“Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.”
This was part of a pep talk which set
out to provide a range of other advice,
including the importance of speaking
thoughtfully, the value of friendship, the
avoidance of conflict, and the need to
dress appropriately for the occasion, “For
the apparel oft proclaims the man.”
All of this is worthwhile material for
reflection and consideration, even today.
It is difficult however, to imagine, in
our cashless and credit encrusted world,
that we could realistically aspire to the
avoidance of lending or borrowing.
The fact is that our society, and the
whole of human civilisation, has operated,
to some extent or other, upon the
provision of resources, monetary and
otherwise, on the basis that there will be
a repayment for that provision. This has
given the opportunity for advancement
and mutual benefit within that society.
The law plays a vital role in the orderly
and just regulation of that process. Indeed,
I have made the comment, to certain
people all too willing to question the utility
and desirability of the legal profession,
that it is lawyers and the operation of
the rule of law that stand between them
and people collecting their debts with a
baseball bat.
The process of credit control and
management is probably the circumstance
that brings the legal profession and the
courts most commonly into a contract
with the public. Debt collection litigation
represents, far and away, the majority of
civil actions commenced in our courts.
The courts are a necessary adjunct
in the process of ensuring compliance
with personal obligations as to credit
and payment of debts. It is essential that
this process is conducted in a manner
which is fair, efficient and economic. This
is undoubtedly a highly technical and
skilled area of legal practice. The role of
legal practitioners dealing with persons
in financial hardship and stress is a vital
one. The objective of the law should be
to direct and guide such people toward
the fulfilment of their obligations in a
NOTICE TO MEMBERS
way which, hopefully, leaves them with
a positive regard and respect for that
process.
At the extreme end of the provision of
credit, the laws in relation to personal and
corporate insolvency come into effect.
This is part of a process of damage
control which is intended to achieve
something more than the retribution and
dubious deterrence which was evident in
the debtors’ prisons of ages past.
The grim depiction of those institutions
by Charles Dickens, based on his own
experience of his father’s imprisonment at
Marshalsea Prison, indicate the ultimately
pointless nature of that process.
Polonius may have put forward a position
which is impossible. Nonetheless, he does
conclude his advice (excusing the gender
specific last word) with a statement of
timeless and universal value, which we
would all do well to adopt:
“This above all: to thine ownself be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.” B
Annual General Meeting
Law Society Members are advised that
the Annual General Meeting of the
Society will be held at the Law Society,
Level 10, 178 North Terrace, Adelaide
on Monday, 22 October 2018 at 5.15pm
CDT
AGM and election information and
nomination forms will be forwarded to
Members in due course.
Nominations for Office-bearers
and designated positions on Council
close on Thursday 6 September 2018
at 5.00pm.
Notice of any business to be brought
forward at the Annual General
Meeting must be delivered to the Chief
Executive by Thursday 6 September
2018 at 5.00pm.
4
THE BULLETIN August 2018