0.0. Ref: 21116/26/52
CIRCULAR 531/52
sir,
išlaji
DESPATCH
THE CHURCH HOUSE;
GREAT SMITH STREET,
COLONIAL LEGAL SERVICE.
LONDON, S.W.1.
26th May, 1952.
I have the honour to inform you that I have had under consideration doubts which have been raised as to whether a retired Colonial Judge should practise before the Courts of a territory in which he has sat on the Bench.
2. While no general policy on this subject seems to have been formulated in the past, it has long been recognised that it is undesirable that a person who has been a Judge in any territory should practise before the Courts of that territory after he has left the Bench. Where the person in question has been a Judge of a Court of Appeal having jurisdiction in two or more territories, the principle would apply to practice in any of those territories.
3. The most important reason for this view is that litigants may think that such a man would have some special influence with those who have been his brother Judges; and it might be alleged that clients would go to him for that reason alone, as indeed they might. A further objection is that it is invidious for a retired Judge to practise before, and to be subject to the control of, Magistrates in a territory where he has been a Judge; and this objection applies to some extent to appearances before those who were previously his brother Judges.
4. Important as are these objections, I appreciate that a rigid rule to the effect that no retired Judge should ever practise in the territory in which he has formerly served as a Judge might cause inconvenience, and possibly hardship, in certain territories. Further, there would normally be no apparent reason for debarring a retired Judge from carrying on a consulting practice in chambers.
5. In these circumstances I suggest that every offer of appointment to a Judgeship should be subject to the condition, which the person to be appointed should be required to accept, that he will never, without the consent of the Governor or the Secretary of State, practise in any territory in which a Court of which he has been a Judge had
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