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SOLICITOR
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SOLICITOR , in See also:England, an officer of the Supreme See also:Court of Judicature qualified to conduct legal proceedings for his clients: see also See also:ATTORNEY. Previous to the reign of See also: It began courses of lectures for students in 1833 and ten years later was constituted registrar of attorneys and solicitors. In 186o it obtained the power of suing unqualified solicitors and in 1888 it was given the custody of the roll of solicitors, on the abolition of the See also:office of the clerk of the See also:Petty Bag. The Solicitors Act of 1888 vested in the Incorporated Law Society the power of investigating complaints as to the professional conduct of solicitors, as well as power to refuse to renew the annual certificate of a solicitor, subject to the solicitor's right of See also:appeal. The statutory See also:committee of the Incorporated Law Society may make application to the court to strike a solicitor off the rolls without preliminary inquiry by the committee where he has been convicted of a criminal offence, but where he is alleged to have been guilty of unprofessional conduct or a statutory offence the committee first hold a preliminary inquiry. Apart from its judicial administrative authority it has exercised powerful See also:influence in the attitude which it has frequently taken towards proposed legislation. Membership of the society, which is not compulsory, is open to any duly qualified practising solicitor, on approval by the council. No, person, however duly qualified, can be admitted as a solicitor till he has attained the See also:age of 'twenty-one years. Though admitted as a solicitor and his name entered on the roll he is not at See also:liberty to practise until he has taken out his annual certificate, the fees for which vary according as the applicant 1 E. See also:Schrader, Abh. K. Preuss. Ak. Wiss. (1879), pp. 31-36. intends to practise in See also:London or the provinces. Solicitors now have a right to practise in any court, i.e. in every See also:division of the High Court, in every inferior court, -in the ecclesiastical courts (as proctors), in the court of appeal, in the privy council and in the See also:House of Lords. Their right of See also:audience, however, is restricted. They may appear as See also:advocates in most of the inferior courts, as before justices, magistrates, coroners, revising barristers and See also:county courts. They have no right of audience, however, in the See also:Mayor's court, London, nor in the High Court of See also:Justice, privy council or House of Lords, where, from See also:time immemorial, the right has pertained to the See also:bar, but they have right of audience in See also:chambers and certain See also:bankruptcy matters. Since the See also:Conveyancing Act 1881 solicitors may do all kinds of conveyancing, which formerly was considered the exclusive business of the bar. The Conveyancing Act 1881 having made See also:great changes in the practice of conveyancing, it became necessary to See also:place the remuneration of solicitors upon a new basis. This was done by the Solicitors Remuneration Act, passed on the same See also:day as the Conveyancing Act. It provides for the framing of See also:general orders, fixing the principles of remuneration with reference inter alia to the skill and responsibility involved, not, as was generally the See also:case before, with reference simply to the length of the documents per-used or prepared. A solicitor is not responsible for statements made by him in his professional capacity as an See also:advocate, and all communications which pass between a solicitor and his client are privileged, so also is any See also:information or document which he has obtained in his professional capacity on behalf of his client. The relation of solicitor and client disqualifies the former from dealing with his client on his own behalf, while it gives him a See also:lien, on See also:pro-4essional services, over the deeds, &c., of the client in his See also:possession. A solicitor's remuneration is minutely arranged by statute and he has no power of recovering more from his client than his statutory charges, and he is liable to be sued for See also:damages for See also:negligence in his client's behalf. Certain See also:personal privileges belong to a solicitor. He is See also:free from serving on juries, nor need he, against his will, serve as a mayor, See also:alderman, See also:sheriff, overseer or See also:churchwarden. In See also:Scotland solicitors in the Supreme Court are not, as in England, the only persons entitled to act as law agents. They See also:share the privilege with writers to the signet in the Supreme Court, with agents at law and procurators in the inferior courts. They were formed into a society in 1784 and incorporated in 1796, and are usually recognized as members of the See also:College of Justice. This difference is, however, now of little importance, as by the Law Agents Act 1873 any person duly admitted a law See also:agent is entitled to practise before any court in Scotland. In the See also:United States the term solicitor is used in some states in the sense of a law agent practising before a court of equity. Many of the great public offices in England and the United States have their solicitors. In England the See also:treasury solicitor fills an especially important position. He is responsible for the enforcement of payments due to the treasury, and conducts generally its legal business. The office of See also: P. Poley, Law Affecting Solicitors. SOLICITOR-GENERAL, in England, one of the law See also:officers of the crown, appointed by letters patent. He is always a member of the House of See also:Commons and of the See also:political party in power, changing with it. His duties are practically the same as those of the attorney-general (q.v.), to whom he is subordinate, and whose business and authority would devolve upon him in case of a vacancy in the office. He receives "a See also:salary of £6000 a year, in addition to fees for any litigious business he may conduct on behalf of the crown. The position of the solicitor-general for Scotland in the See also:main corresponds with that of the English solicitor-general. He is next in See also:rank to the See also:lord-advocate. In the United States the office of solicitor-general was created by Act of Congress in 187o. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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