Jersey Law 6/1997
ADVOCATES AND
SOLICITORS (JERSEY) LAW 1997
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ARRANGEMENT OF
ARTICLES
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1.
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Interpretation.
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2.
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Entitlement
to practise as an advocate or solicitor.
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3.
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Requirements
for admission to the Bar.
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4.
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Requirements
for admission as a solicitor.
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5.
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Application
for qualifying examination.
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6.
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Qualifying
examination.
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7.
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Examination
results.
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8.
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Application
for admission to the Bar or admission as a solicitor.
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9.
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Board
of examiners.
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10.
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Disciplinary
Committee for solicitors.
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11.
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Rules
of court.
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12.
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Transitional
provisions, savings and repeals.
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13.
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Citation
and commencement.
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FIRST
SCHEDULE – Oath of office of solicitors of the Royal Court.
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SECOND
SCHEDULE – Disciplinary Committee for solicitors.
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THIRD
SCHEDULE – Transitional provisions and savings.
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FOURTH
SCHEDULE – Repeals.
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ADVOCATES AND
SOLICITORS (JERSEY) LAW 1997
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A LAW to revise and consolidate the Laws relating to the right to
practise as an advocate or a solicitor and the regulation of the practice of
solicitors, and to provide for ancillary matters, sanctioned by Order of Her
Majesty in Council of the
12th day of FEBRUARY
1997
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(Registered on the
28th day of February 1997)
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STATES OF JERSEY
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The 22nd day of October 1996
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THE
STATES, subject to
the sanction of Her Most Excellent Majesty in Council, have adopted the
following Law –
ARTICLE 1
Interpretation
(1) In
this Law –
“the
Board” means the board of examiners described in Article 9 and “President
of the Board” shall be construed in accordance with paragraph (2) of that
provision;
“qualifying
examination” shall be construed in accordance with Article 6 and
sub-paragraph (2) of paragraph 4 and sub-paragraph (2) of paragraph 5 of the
Third Schedule;
“relevant
office” means an advocate’s or a solicitor’s office in the
Island, the Law Officers’ Department or the Judicial Greffe;
“the Royal
Court” means the Superior Number of the Royal Court;
“specified”
means specified in rules of court.
(2) For
the purposes of this Law, a person is a qualifying citizen if he is a
Commonwealth citizen or a citizen of the European Union, and a qualifying
national if he is a national of an EFTA State which is a party to the European
Economic Area Agreement.
(3) A
reference in this Law to an Article by number only, and without further
identification, is a reference to the Article of that number contained in this
Law.
(4) A
reference in an Article or other division of this Law to a paragraph,
sub-paragraph or clause by number or letter only, and without further
identification, is a reference to the paragraph, sub-paragraph or clause of
that number or letter contained in the Article or other division of this Law in
which the reference occurs.
(5) A
reference in this Law or any enactment made under it to an enactment is a
reference to that enactment as amended, and includes a reference to that
enactment as extended or applied by or under any other enactment, including any
other provision of that enactment.
ARTICLE 2
Entitlement to
practise as an advocate or solicitor
(1) A
person shall be entitled to practise as an advocate before every court in the
Island if he has been admitted to the Bar in accordance with Article 8.
(2) A
person shall be entitled to practise as a solicitor if he has been admitted as
a solicitor in accordance with Article 8.
ARTICLE 3
Requirements for
admission to the Bar
(1) A
person shall be entitled to be admitted to the Bar if –
(a) he is a qualifying
citizen or a qualifying national; and
(b) he fulfils the
requirements in paragraph (2) or (3).
(2) The
requirements are that –
(a) he has passed –
(i) either the
examinations set by the Council of Legal Education for call to the Bar of
England and Wales by any one of the Inns of Court in England or the
examinations set by the Law Society of England and Wales for enrolment as a
solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales or such other examinations
as may be specified, and
(ii) the qualifying
examination;
and
(b) he has been employed,
for the period of two years immediately preceding his application for admission
to the Bar in accordance with Article 8, in a relevant office or in more than
one such office.
(3) The
requirements are –
(a) that he is admitted as
a solicitor; and
(b) either –
(i) that when so
admitted he had passed either the examinations set by the Council of Legal
Education for call to the Bar of England and Wales by any one of the Inns of
Court in England and Wales or the examinations set by the Law Society of
England and Wales for enrolment as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England
and Wales or such other examination as may be specified; or
(ii) that he has practised
as a solicitor for a period of three years.
ARTICLE 4
Requirements for
admission as a solicitor
(1) A
person shall be entitled to be admitted as a solicitor if –
(a) he is a qualifying
citizen or a qualifying national; and
(b) he fulfils the
requirements in paragraph (2) or (3).
(2) The
requirements are that –
(a) he –
(i) has a law degree
of a British university or of such other university or institution as the Board
approves, which includes such subjects as may be specified, or
(ii) has passed the common
professional examination set by the Law Society of England and Wales or such
other examination as may be specified;
(b) he has passed the
qualifying examination; and
(c) he has been employed,
for the period of three years immediately preceding his application for
admission as a solicitor in accordance with Article 8, in a relevant office or
in more than one such office.
(3) The
requirements are that he has –
(a) passed the qualifying
examination; and
(b) completed a total of
five years’ employment in a relevant office or in more than one such
office, of which the whole of the two years immediately preceding his application
for admission as a solicitor in accordance with Article 8 has been spent in
such employment.
ARTICLE 5
Application for
qualifying examination
(1) No
person may apply to sit the qualifying examination unless –
(a) he has attained the age
of twenty-one years;
(b) he is a qualifying
citizen or a qualifying national; and
(c) he fulfils the
specified educational requirement (if any).
(2) An
application to sit the qualifying examination shall be made in writing to the
President of the Board not later than one month before the beginning of the
month in which the examination is due to be held and shall be accompanied by
such evidence and information as may be specified.
ARTICLE 6
Qualifying
examination
(1) The
qualifying examination shall be in such form and in such subjects as are
specified.
(2) Subject
to paragraph (3), the qualifying examination shall be held twice in each year,
in the months of April and October or in such other months as may be specified,
and shall not commence before the 15th day of the month in question.
(3) No
qualifying examination shall be held unless an application has been made in
accordance with Article 5.
(4) The
President of the Board shall, not later than twenty-one days before the date
the qualifying examination commences, notify every applicant of the date when,
and the time and place at which the examination is to be held.
(5) Rules
of court may also provide for –
(a) the qualifying
examination to be in a different form, including the form of a preliminary
examination and a final examination which shall together constitute the
qualifying examination, and in different subjects for different descriptions of
applicants;
(b) the person by whom the
syllabus for any subject is to be issued;
(c) a person to be exempted
from one or more of the papers of the qualifying examination in specified
circumstances;
(d) a person who has failed
to pass any paper of the qualifying examination but who, in the opinion of the
panel appointed pursuant to paragraph (3) of Article 9 in relation to that particular
examination, has attained a sufficiently high standard generally, to be treated
as having passed the examination conditionally on his subsequently passing the
paper which he has failed;
(e) the Board to have a
discretion to treat any person as having a law degree for the purposes of this
Law even though the subjects included in the said degree do not wholly
correspond with such subjects as may be specified; and
(f) such transitional
arrangements and savings as the Royal Court considers necessary or expedient.
(6) Rules
of Court shall provide for a paper written by a person sitting the qualifying
examination to be identified only by a number assigned to him by the President
of the Board.
ARTICLE 7
Examination
results
(1) The
President of the Board shall notify every person sitting the qualifying
examination of the results of the examination.
(2) The
President of the Board shall deliver to each person who passes the qualifying
examination a certificate to that effect.
ARTICLE 8
Application for
admission to the Bar or admission as a solicitor
(1) A
person who fulfils the requirements in paragraph (1) of Article 3 may apply in
writing to the Attorney General for admission to the Bar.
(2) A
person who fulfils the requirements in paragraph (1) of Article 4 may apply in
writing to the Attorney General for admission as a solicitor.
(3) An
application made pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) shall be accompanied by
documentary evidence of the applicant’s entitlement to admission.
(4) Upon
receipt of an application made pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2), the Attorney
General shall forthwith notify the Bailiff, and the Bailiff shall arrange for a
sitting of the Royal Court to consider the application as soon as may be
practicable.
(5) At
such sitting, the Attorney General shall submit the application and the
accompanying documentary evidence to the Royal Court, together with his
conclusions.
(6) If
the Royal Court grants the conclusions of the Attorney General it shall –
(a) in the case of an
application made pursuant to paragraph (1), administer the customary oath to
the applicant; or
(b) in the case of an
application made pursuant to paragraph (2), admit the applicant as a solicitor
and administer to him the oath set out in the First Schedule.
ARTICLE 9
Board of
examiners
(1) A
board of examiners shall be responsible for the conduct of the qualifying
examination.
(2) The
Board shall consist of the Deputy Bailiff, who shall be the President of the
Board, the Attorney General, the Solicitor General, the Judicial Greffier and
such advocates and solicitors of the Royal Court as are for the time being
appointed for the purpose by the advocates and solicitors of the Royal Court
generally.
(3) Each
qualifying examination shall be conducted by a panel of not less than five
examiners (at least one of whom shall be the Deputy Bailiff, the Attorney
General, the Solicitor General or the Judicial Greffier) appointed for that
particular examination by the Board from amongst its members.
(4) Rules
of Court may provide for–
(a) the co-opting to the
Board of non-voting members who are experienced in setting and marking
examinations in law but who need not be advocates or solicitors; and
(b) the appointment of one
or more such non-voting members as adviser to a panel of examiners appointed
pursuant to paragraph (3) on the setting and marking of the qualifying
examination it is conducting.
ARTICLE 10
Disciplinary
Committee for solicitors
(1) There
shall be constituted, in accordance with the Second Schedule, a Disciplinary
Committee for solicitors whose functions shall be –
(a) to maintain the
standards of the solicitors’ profession;
(b) to reconcile all
differences between solicitors on matters of practice and, where necessary, to
give a ruling in relation to them;
(c) to consider complaints
from third parties concerning the conduct of solicitors in the course of
practice.
(2) Where
it appears to the Committee that the circumstances so justify, the Committee
may –
(a) reprimand a solicitor;
or
(b) censure a solicitor,
either informally or before a full meeting of the Committee; or
(c) refer a matter to the
Royal Court in accordance with paragraph (3).
(3) If
a complaint is made against a solicitor which appears to the Committee to be of
such gravity that a reprimand or censure would be inadequate, the Committee
shall, after co-opting two other solicitors, investigate the complaint and, if
the Committee decides that the matter should be brought to the attention of the
Royal Court, it shall make a report to the Attorney General, who shall present
the case for decision to the Royal Court.
(4) In
this Article and in the Second Schedule, “the Committee” means the
Disciplinary Committee for solicitors constituted pursuant to paragraph (1).
ARTICLE 11
Rules of court
(1) The
power to make rules of court under the Royal Court (Jersey) Law 1948 shall include a power to make
rules for the purposes of this Law.
(2) Paragraph
(1) of Article 3 of the Official Publications (Jersey) Law 1960 shall apply to rules made under
this Law as it applies to enactments mentioned in that paragraph and
accordingly, as soon as may be after such rules are made, the Judicial Greffier
shall transmit a certified copy of them to the Greffier of the States.
ARTICLE 12
Transitional
provisions, savings and repeals
Subject to the
transitional provisions and savings in the Third Schedule, the enactments
specified in the first column of the Fourth Schedule to this Law are repealed
to the extent indicated in the second column of that Schedule.
ARTICLE 13
Citation and commencement
This Law may be
cited as the Advocates and Solicitors (Jersey) Law 1997 and shall come into
force on such day as the States may by Act appoint.
C.M. NEWCOMBE
Deputy Greffier of the States.
FIRST SCHEDULE
(Article
8(6)(b))
Oath of office
of solicitors of the Royal Court
Vous jurez et promettez par la foi et serment que vous
devez à Dieu, que bien et fidèlement vous exercerez la profession
d’écrivain près les Tribunaux de ce pays sous notre
Souveraine Dame Elizabeth Deux, par la Grâce de Dieu Reine du Royaume Uni
de la Grande Bretagne et de l’Irlande du Nord et de Ses autres Royaumes
et Territoires, Chef du Commonwealth, Défenseur de la Foi, la
Majesté de laquelle vous reconnoissez sous Dieu, suprême
Gouverneur en tous ses Royaumes, Provinces et Territoires, quittant et
renonçant à toutes autres supériorités foraines et
étrangères; vous garderez le droit de Sa Majesté et de ses
sujets, et soutiendrez l’honneur et gloire de Dieu et de sa pure parole;
vous défendrez et maintiendrez les lois et usages, privilèges,
franchises, coutumes et libertés de l’Isle, vous opposant à
quiconque les voudroit enfreindre. Vous n’entreprendrez ni ne soutiendrez
aucune cause ou affaire qui vous paroîtra dénuée de tout
droit, ou proposée avec méchanceté. Vous ne controuverez
aucuns faits, si vos clients ne vous les ont affirmés pour vrais. Vous
ne proposerez ni alléguerez aucun fait, coutume ni usage, que vous
sçaurez être contraires à droit et justice; et si aucune
chose touche le droit de Sa Majesté, vous en informerez les Officiers de
la Couronne, et le maintiendrez. Vous ne ferez aucun marché ni contrat
avec vos clients d’aucune cause ou affaire contentieuse, ni de partie
d’icelle. Vous vous contenterez de gages et salaires raisonnables, et assisterez
aux veuves, pauvres et orphelins. Et finalement vous vous conformerez selon le
bon avis de Monsieur le Bailli, ou de Monsieur le Commis-Bailli, ou de Monsieur
le Lieutenant-Bailli, ou de Messieurs de Justice.
SECOND SCHEDULE
(Article 10(1))
Disciplinary
Committee for solicitors
1. The
Committee shall consist of five members, elected by absolute majority at a
general meeting of practising solicitors.
2. The
elections shall take place every three years and existing members of the
Committee shall be eligible for re-election.
3. The
Committee shall elect a President and a Secretary.
4. Every
complaint against a solicitor shall be forwarded to the President, who shall
convene the Committee at the earliest opportunity to consider the matter.
5. Except
for the purposes of paragraph (3) of Article 10, the Committee shall be
lawfully constituted and may conduct any business which it is in their power to
conduct if three members, including the President or Secretary, are present.
THIRD SCHEDULE
(Article 12)
Transitional
provisions and savings
1. In
this Schedule –
“the 1968
Law” means the Advocates (Jersey) Law 1968;
“the 1971
Law” means the Solicitors (Jersey) Law 1971.
Advocates
2.-(1) A person who –
(a) passes –
(i) either the
examinations set by the Council of Legal Education for call to the Bar of
England and Wales by any one of the Inns of Court in England or the
examinations set by the Law Society of England and Wales for enrolment as a
solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, and
(ii) either the qualifying
examination described in clause (a) of sub-paragraph (2) of paragraph 4 or the
qualifying examination described in sub-paragraph (2) of paragraph 5;
and
(b) before the day
appointed in accordance with sub-paragraph (2), obtains a “Certificat
d’Etudes Juridiques Françaises et Normandes” of the
University of Caen, or any equivalent qualification specified,
shall be deemed
to have complied with the requirements in paragraph (2) of Article 3.
(2) The States may by Act
appoint a day for the purposes of clause (b) of sub-paragraph (1).
3. A
solicitor who has passed the qualifying examination described in sub-paragraph
(2) of paragraph 5 shall be deemed to have complied with the requirement in
sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph (3) of Article 3.
Savings
4.-(1) Notwithstanding the repeal of the 1968
Law, any Rules of court made under it which have effect before the day this Law
comes into force shall continue to have effect as if made under this Law in the
case of a person intending to seek admission to the Bar.
(2) In a case where Rules
of court made under the 1968 Law continue to have effect –
(a) any reference in this
Law to the “qualifying examination” shall be construed as a
reference to the appropriate examination specified in those Rules for the
purpose of sub-paragraph (e) of paragraph (1) of Article 1 of the 1968 Law; and
(b) the reference in clause
(b) of sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 2 to any equivalent qualification
specified shall be construed as a reference to any equivalent qualification
specified in those Rules for the purposes of sub-paragraph (dd) of paragraph
(1) of Article 1 of the 1968 Law.
5.-(1) Notwithstanding the repeal of the 1971
Law, any Rules of court made under it which have effect before the day this Law
comes into force shall, subject to paragraph 6, continue to have effect as if
made under this Law –
(a) in the case of a person
intending to seek admission as a solicitor; and
(b) for the purposes of
sub-clause (ii) of clause (a) of sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 2, in the case
of a person intending to seek admission to the Bar.
(2) In a case where Rules
of court made under the 1971 Law continue to have effect, any reference in this
Law to the “qualifying examination” shall be construed as a
reference to the qualifying examination specified in those Rules.
6. The
reference in Rule 2 of the Solicitors (Qualifying Examination) (Re-examination)
(Jersey) Rules 1994 to “the month of
October” shall be construed as a reference to “the month of April
or the month of October”.
7. The
Disciplinary Committee constituted in accordance with Article 8 of the 1971 Law
shall continue in existence as if constituted in accordance with Article 10 of
this Law.
FOURTH SCHEDULE
(Article 12)
Enactments
repealed
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(1)
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(2)
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Title of enactment
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Extent of repeal
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Advocates
(Jersey) Law 1968
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The whole Law
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Advocates
(Amendment) (Jersey) Law 1971
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The whole Law
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Solicitors
(Jersey) Law 1971
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The whole Law
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Advocates
(Amendment No. 2) (Jersey) Law 1990
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The whole Law
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Solicitors
(Amendment) (Jersey) Law 1994
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The whole Law
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Advocates
(Amendment No. 3) (Jersey) Law 1995
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The whole Law
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