Solicitors Act 1877
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1877 c. 25 |
| Year | 1877 |
Solicitors Act, 1877
(40 & 41 Vict.) CHAPTER 25.
An Act for regulating the Examination of persons applying to be admitted Solicitors of the Supreme Court of Judicature in England, and for otherwise amending the Law relating to Solicitors.
[23d July 1877]
W HEREAS under or by virtue of the enactments of the Act of the sixth and seventh years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter seventy-three, and of the Act of the twenty-third and twenty-fourth years of the same reign, chapter one hundred and twenty-seven, and of the Supreme Court of Judicature Acts, 1873 and 1875, relating to the admission of persons as solicitors of the Supreme Court, and of regulations made under the authority of those enactments, persons applying to be admitted as solicitors of the Supreme Court of Judicature in England are (with certain exceptions) required to pass examinations known respectively as the preliminary, the intermediate, and the final examination:
And whereas under the above-mentioned enactments the power of making regulations for the conduct of the said examinations and of appointing examiners is vested in certain judges of Her Majesty's High Court of Justice:
And whereas it is expedient that such powers, subject as hereinafter mentioned, be vested in the Incorporated Law Society, and that other amendments be made in the law relating to solicitors of the Supreme Court:
Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Preliminary.
1 Short title and construction of Act.
1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as ‘TheSolicitors Act, 1877,’ and the Act of the sixth and seventh years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter seventy-three, ‘For consolidating and amending several of the laws relating to Attorneys and Solicitors practising in England and Wales,’ and the Act of the twenty-third and twenty-fourth years of the same reign, chapter one hundred and twenty-seven, ‘To amend the laws relating to Attorneys Solicitors Proctors and Certificated Conveyancers,’ may be respectively cited for all purposes as ‘The Solicitors Act, 1843,’ and ‘The Solicitors Act, 1860,’ and this Act shall (so far as is consistent with the tenour thereof) be construed as one with the said Solicitors Acts, 1843 and 1860, and with the other enactments for the time being in force relating to solicitors.
2 Extent of Act.
2. This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland.
3 Commencement of Act.
3. This Act shall, so far as regards the power of certain of the judges of Her Majesty's High Court of Justice and of the Incorporated Law Society to make regulations thereunder, and so far as regards the issue of notices and other proceedings preliminary to holding the first examinations thereunder, come into operation on the passing thereof, and for all other purposes shall come into operation on the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
4 Interpretation.
4. In this Act,—
‘The Incorporated Law Society’ or ‘The Society’ means ‘The Society of Attorneys Solicitors Proctors and others not being Barristers practising in the Courts of Law and Equity of the United Kingdom:’
‘Solicitor’ means solicitor of the Supreme Court of Judicature in England:
‘Preliminary examination’ means an examination in general knowledge of persons becoming bound under articles of clerkship to solicitors:
‘Intermediate examination’ means an examination of persons bound under articles of clerkship to solicitors in order to ascertain the progress made by such persons during their articles in acquiring the knowledge necessary for rendering them fit and capable to act as solicitors:
‘Final examination’ means an examination of persons applying to be admitted as solicitors as well touching the articles and service as the fitness and capacity of such persons to act as solicitors, in all business and matters usually transacted by solicitors, and includes, where any allegation is made by the registrar of solicitors as to the moral unfitness of any such person to be an officer of the Supreme Court, an inquiry into the truth of such allegation.
Examinations.
5 Certificate of having passed examinations requisite for admission as solicitor.
5. Subject to the exemptions allowed by this Act, or by regulations made under the authority thereof, a person shall not be admitted as a solicitor unless he has obtained from the Incorporated Law Society, or some person authorised in writing by that Society, a certificate or certificates to the effect that he has passed a preliminary, an intermediate, and a final examination.
6 Examinations to be held under management of Incorporated Law Society.
6. The Incorporated Law Society are hereby authorised and required to hold, at least three times in the year commencing with the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight, and in every succeeding year, a preliminary examination, an intermediate examination, and a final examination, and the Society shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, have the entire management and control of all such examinations, and shall have power from time to time to make regulations with respect to all or any of the following matters; (that is to say,)
(a. ) With respect to the subjects for and the mode of conducting the examination of candidates; and
(b. ) With respect to the times and places of examinations and the notices of examinations; and
(c. ) With respect to the certificates to be given to persons of their having passed any examination; and
(d. ) With respect to the appointment and removal of examiners (other than the ex-officio examiners in this Act mentioned) and with respect to the remuneration by fees or otherwise of the examiners so appointed; and
(e. ) With respect to any other matter or thing as to which the Society think it expedient to make regulations for the purpose of carrying this section into execution.
Any regulation made under the authority of this section may be altered or revoked by a subsequent regulation; and copies of all regulations made under the authority of this section shall be transmitted to the presidents of the Queen's Bench Division, the Common Pleas Division, and the Exchequer Division of the High Court of Justice, and to the Master of the Rolls, and if within twenty-eight days after a copy of any regulation has been so transmitted, any two of those judges (the Master of the Rolls being one) signify by writing under their hands, addressed to the president or the vice-president or secretary of the Society, their dissent from such regulation or any part thereof, the same shall be of no force or effect; and if after any such regulation or any part thereof has come into force any two of those judges (the Master of the Rolls being one) shall signify in manner aforesaid their dissent from such regulation or any part thereof the same shall, at the expiration of two months, cease to be of any force or effect.
7 Masters of Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer Divisions to be ex-officio examiners.
7. Unless and until the presidents of the Queen's Bench Division, Common Pleas Division, and Exchequer Division of the High Court of Justice, and the Master of the Rolls otherwise order, the several masters for the time being of those divisions shall be ex-officio examiners for the intermediate and the final examinations, and one of such ex-officio examiners shall act in the conduct of every such examination in conjunction with the examiners appointed by the Society in pursuance of this Act.
8 Fees payable to Incorporated Law Society in respect of examinations.
8. Any person applying to be examined or re-examined at a preliminary, intermediate, or final examination shall pay to the Incorporated Law Society such fees in respect of such examinations (and in such proportions and at such times) as may be from time to time determined by regulations to be made by the presidents of the Queen's...
To continue reading
Request your trial