Legal Practitioners
[CAP. 159
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(2) If a mortgage has been made to, or has become vested by transfer or transmission in, a solicitor, either alone or jointly with any other person, and any business is transacted or acts are done by that solicitor, or by the firm of which he is a member, in relation to that mortgage or the security thereby created or the property comprised thereunder, then he or they shall be entitled to recover from the person on whose behalf the business was transacted or the acts were done, and to charge against the security, such usual costs as he or they would have been entitled to receive if the mortgage had been made to and had remained vested in a person who was not a solicitor and that person had retained and employed him or them to transact that business and do those acts.
(3) In this section and in sections 66, 67 and 68, "solicitor" includes the executors, administrators and assignees of the solicitor in question.
[cf. 1957 c. 27 s. 67 U.K.]
66. Action to recover costs
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Ordinance, no action shall be brought to recover any costs due to a solicitor until 1 month after a bill thereof has been delivered in accordance with the requirements of this section:
Provided that, if there is probable cause for believing that the party chargeable with the costs is about to quit Hong Kong, or become a bankrupt, or to compound with his creditors, or to do any other act which would tend to prevent or delay the solicitor obtaining payment, the Court may, notwithstanding that 1 month has not expired from the delivery of the bill, order that the solicitor be at liberty to commence an action to recover his costs and may order those costs to be taxed. (Amended 50 of 1982 s. 8)
(2) The said requirements are as follows-
(a) the bill must be signed by the solicitor, or if the costs are due to a firm by one of the partners of that firm, either in his own name or in the name of the firm, or be enclosed in, or accompanied by, a letter which is so signed and refers to the bill; and
(b) the bill must be delivered to the party to be charged therewith, either personally or by being sent to him by post to, or left for him at, his place of business, dwelling house or last known place of abode,
and where a bill is proved to have been delivered in compliance with those requirements, it shall not be necessary in the first instance for the solicitor to prove the contents of the bill and it shall be presumed, until the contrary is shown, to be a bill bona fide complying with this Ordinance.
[cf. 1957 c. 7 s. 68 U.K.]
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