The Hongkong Government Gazette.
[21st June, 1856.]
Preamble.
Ordinance No. 6 of
Whereas by Ordinance No. 6 of 1845, any Person soever who shall have served for a period of Three Years as an Articled Clerk to any Solicitor, Attorney, or Proctor, actually practising as such within this tony, or who shall have been admitted as a Solicitor, Attorney, or Proctor, in any other British Colony,
qualified to be approved, admitted, and enrolled by the Supreme Court to practise as a Solicitor, 1845. Attorney, and Proctor in the said Court, and that as fully and freely as if he had been duly admitted as a Solicitor, Attorney, Writer, or Proctor in the several Courts of Great Britain and Ireland respectively: And whereas no provision hath been made for the examination of the said persons before such approval, mission, and enrolment: And whereas it is expedient to make provision in that behalf, and also to extend the benefit of the said recited provisions to other duly qualified Persons who shall be so found by the Persons conducting such examination : And whereas it is also expedient that further provision be made for the Taxation of Costs in all cases: Be it therefore enacted and ordained by His Excellency the Governor of Hongkong, with the advice of the Legislative Council thereof, in manner following, that is to
Qualifications of Can-
1. From and after the passing of this Ordinance, any Person who shall have actually exclusively and bona fide served for the period of Three Years or upwards (whether computed from any time previous or didates. from any time subsequent to the passing of this Ordinance,) as Registrar, Deputy Registrar, Clerk of the Supreme Court or of a Judge thereof, Clerk to the Attorney-General, or Interpreter to the said Court, or sa Clerk of the Peace, or as an Articled Clerk to any actually practising Attorney, Solicitor, or Proctor of the said Court, or for any one portion of the said period in some one of the said capacities, and for the residue thereof in some other or others of them, but not in two or more of them at the same time, or who hall have been duly admitted as an Attorney, Solicitor, or Proctor in any other of Her Majesty's Colonies, hall be eligible for admission to practise as an Attorney, Solicitor, and Proctor of the said Supreme Court, but only upon the Conditions hereinafter specified.
The Court to appoint
II. In the Fourth Term of the present and every Succeeding Year, the Attorney-General, a Barrister, or Registrar of the Supreme Court, of this Colony and two actually practising Attornies of the said Court the Attorney General, hall be by Rule of Court appointed to be the Examiners for the then next ensuing Twelve Months, into a Barrister, or Regis- the Fitness of Candidates of the classes described in Section One for admission to practise as Attornies, tar of the Supreme. Court, with two Attor- Solicitors, and Proctors, under this Ordinance. And the said Examiners, or any Two of them of whom nies, to be Examiners. the said Attorney-General, Barrister, or Registrar shall be one, shall, at such reasonable times as the said Court shall appoint and notify, proceed to examine into the fitness of the said Candidates in that behalf, having due regard unto their character, conduct, learning, and length and assiduity of service, and their ether credentials, and conforming themselves so far as may be practicable to the regulations by which the examinations of Candidates for admission to practise as Attornies and Solicitors of the Courts of West- minster are governed and directed.
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III. Such questions as are propounded in print or in writing to the said Candidates by the Examiners in that
behalf, shall be answered in writing..
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Written answers.
Certificate of the Ex-
IV. The Examiners shall certify the result of every such Examination to the Supreme Court within One Week from the completion of the said Examination. And every such Certificate shall be in writing aminers. signed by the Examiners, or any two of them of whom the said Attorney-General, Barrister, or Registrar hall be one, and shall state to the effect that the Examiners, or the Majority of them, find that the Can- didate is or (as the case may be) is not fit to act as an Attorney, Solicitor, and Proctor of the Supreme Court, or (as the case may be) that the Examiners have not been able to come to any finding as to his Siness in that behalf.
V. If the Examiners, or the Majority of them present at the Examination, find that the Candidate is fit, The Candidate, if he shall be admitted to practise accordingly but if they, or the said Majority, find that he is not fit, or unsuccessful, may ap- come to no finding, he may, on his Petition to the Supreme Court, be heard in support of his qualification peal to the Court. and claim to such admission. And if the said Court shall grant the prayer of such his Petition, he shall be
admitted accordingly, notwithstanding any such finding or want of finding as aforesaid.
VI. Except in cases where the Court on special application shall give leave to the contrary, no Ad- Certificate or Order mission shall be granted, whether upon such Certificate, or such Petition, as aforesaid, after the expiration to be in force for one of One Month from the date of the return of the Certificate or (as the case may be) the date of the Order month. made upon the Petition.
VII. No Person bona fide domiciled within this Colony, and who shall comply with the Provisions of Alienage or Chinese this Ordinance, shall be disqualified from obtaining such admission as aforesaid merely by reason of Alienage, status no disqualifica- or that he is by birth a Chinaman.
tion,
VIII. The provisions aforesaid shall not in any way affect the right of such Persons as shall have been Saving of existing admitted as Attornies, Solicitors, or Writers in one of the Courts at Westminster. Dublin, or Edinburgh, or rights.
* Proctors in an Ecclesiastical Court in England, to be admitted to practise in the said Supreme Court as Attornies, Solicitors, and Proctors thereof.
Oath.
IX. Every Person soever who from henceforward shall be admitted to practise as Attorney, Solicitor, Fifty Dollars payable er Proctor, whether under this Ordinance or not, shall, on such admission, pay to the Registrar, or Deputy on admission. Registrar of the Supreme Court for the use of the Crown the Fee of Fifty Dollars, and shall take and subscribe all such Oaths or Affirmations as are appointed by the Acts of Parliament for the time being in force in England for Regulating the Admission of Persons to practise in the profession of Attorney or Solicitor-every Jew or Heathen who shall take the Oaths omitting the words "on the true Faith of a Christian," and taking the said Oaths according to his own conscience.
X. The Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, in Removing or Striking off the Names of Barristers, Attor- nies, Solicitors, Proctors or Interpreters from the rolls of the said Court, is not affected by this Ordinance.
Striking off the rolls.
XI. So much of the Act of Parliament passed in the Sixth and Seventh Years of Her present Majesty Extension of the 6 Chapter Seventy-three, Sections Four, Five, Twenty-eight, Twenty-nine, Thirty-two, Thirty-seven. Thirty- & 7 Vic. c. 73, §§ 4, tight, Thirty-nine, Forty, Forty-one, and Forty-three, as relates to the competence of Attornies or Solicitors 5, 28, 29, 32, 87, 38, to have Clerks bound by Contracts under Articles, the discharge of such Contracts, Service under such 39, 40, 41, and 43. Contracts when made with disabled or disqualified Persons, the time for making applications for striking off the roll Persons admitted and enrolled erroneously but without fraud, the agency of Attornies or Solicitors: for disqualified Persons, the delivery, reference, and taxation (whether before payment or after) of hills of fees, charges, and disbursements for any business done by Attornies or Solicitors, Applications of parties and Orders of Court for delivery and reference in such cases, and for delivery up of deeds, Documents, or Papers, Certificates of taxation and entering up of Judgments, and the conditions on which actions or suits may be cominenced or maintained by Attornies or Solicitors for the recovery of any Fees, Charges, or Disburse- ments, shall, from the passing of this Ordinance (but subject to the provisions hereinafter contained) extend to this Colony, and to all business now being done or to be hereafter done within the same.