Reports
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1961.tb01271.x |
| Published date | 01 April 1961 |
| Date | 01 April 1961 |
Reports
Report
qf
the
Committee
on Legal
Education
for
Students
from Africa.
Cmnd.
1255;
H.M.S.O.;
1961;
IS.
6d.
INthe April 1960 issue
of
the ]oumal qf African
Administration
we referred to
the
Conference on the
Future
of
Law
in Africa), held from
the
28th December 1959
to the
8th
January,
1960, which was presided over by
the
Right
Honourable
Lord
Denning,
Lord
of
Appeal in
Ordinary.
The
Conference was
attended
by senior members of
the
Judiciary
and
Legal
Services from those
parts
of Africa where the law is based on English
Common
Law
as well as from the United
Kingdom
which also sent academic lawyers.
Two
of
the
most
important
recommendations
of
the conference were
that
'a
committee should be set up without delay to consider,
and
report
as soon as
possible,
what
facilities
ought
to be
made
available to provide
any
additional
instruction
and
training, either in the
United
Kingdom
or elsewhere, which
may
be required to ensure
that
those members
of
local bars in Africa
who
obtain
their legal qualifications in the
United
Kingdom
possess the knowledge
and
experience required to fit them for practice in the special conditions
of
the
territories in
which
they
are
to practise,
with
special reference to
the
following:-
(a) the acquisition
of
practical
experience in
addition
to academic qualifi-
cations;
and
(b) the giving
of
instruction in the functions
of
asolicitor to those who
are
English barristers or possess similar qualifications,
and
who practise as
members
of
a fused profession.
Without
prejudice to
the
urgency
of
the foregoing recommendation, consider-
ation should also be given, by
the
same or a different committee, to
the
means to
be
adopted
in
the
educational sphere to give
the
territorial authorities assistance
which they
may
require in whatever provision they make for
the
education
in
Africa of local
inhabitants
seeking a legal qualification.'
In
addition,
the
Conference was concerned
that
adequate
arrangements
be
made
for the training
and
guidance
of
the
staff
and
personnel
of
na tive
or
local
courts.
As a result
of
these recommendations,
which
had
received wide support,
the
Lord
Chancellor in
October
1960 set up a
Committee
under
the
Chairmanship
of
the
Right
Honourable
Lord
Denning
to advise on all these matters.
The
report
of
the
Committee
was presented to
Parliament
by
the
Lord
High
Chancellor on
the
18th
January
1961
and
the
main
recommendations
are
summarized
below:-
Higher
Legal
Education
in England
The
Inns
of
Court
should be invited to revise their conditions of
entry
so as
to ensure
that
no
student
is
admitted
who
has
not
sufficient general
education
to be able to pass the
Bar
examinations.
IJ.A.A. Vol.
XII,
No.2,
p.
107.
See also J.A.A. Vol.
XII,
NO.4,
p. 247 for reference to
the
Conference
report.
118
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