30 & 31 Vict. c. 90 An Act to alter certain du- Sections 20 to 24, both

No. XV.

CERTIFICATES OF ATTORNEYS AND OTHERS.

DUTIES.

CERTIFICATE to be taken out yearly

(1) By every person admitted or inrolled in England or Ireland as an attorney, solicitor, proctor, or notary public.

(2) By every person admitted or inrolled in Scotland as a writer to the signet, solicitor, agent, attorney, procurator, or notary public.

(3) By every other legally qualified person who carries on business in England or Ireland as a conveyancer, special pleader, or draftsman in equity, and is obliged by law to take out such a certificate.

£ s. d.

SPECIAL REGULATIONS.

Penalty for practising without a certificate, or not making true statement on application for certificate.

59. (1) Every person who in any part of the United Kingdom(a) Directly or indirectly acts or practises in any court as an attorney, solicitor, proctor, writer to the signet, agent, or procurator, or as a notary public, without having in force at the time a duly stamped certificate according to the provisions hereinafter contained and referred to; (b) On applying for any such certificate does not truly specify the facts and circumstances upon which the amount of duty chargeable upon his certificate depends:

shall forfeit the sum of fifty pounds, and shall be incapable of maintaining any action or suit for the recovery of any fee, reward, or disbursement on account of or in relation to any act or proceeding done or taken by him in any such capacity.

(2) Any person in whose name, either alone or together with any other person, any proceeding is taken in any court, shall, unless the proceeding is set aside by the court as irregular, or unless the contrary is otherwise satisfactorily proved, be deemed to have acted in such proceeding.

Penalty on unqualified persons preparing instruments.

60. Every person who (not being a serjeant-at-law, barrister, or a duly certificated attorney, solicitor, proctor, notary public, writer to the signet, agent, procurator, conveyancer, special pleader, or draftsman in equity) either directly or indirectly, for or in expectation of any fee, gain, or reward, draws or prepares any instrument relating to real or personal estate, or any proceedings in law or equity, shall forfeit the sum of fifty pounds.

SPECIAL REGULATIONS.

Proviso.

Provided as follows:-
:-

(1) This section does not extend to

(a) Any public officer drawing or preparing instruments in the course of his duty;

(b) Any person employed merely to engross any instrument

or proceedings.

(2) The term 'instrument' in this section does not include(a) Wills or other testamentary instruments;

(b) Agreements under hand only;

(c) Letters or powers of attorney;

(d) Transfers of stock containing no trust or limitation thereof.

One certificate only in England, Scotland, or Ireland.

61. It shall not be necessary for any person to take out in England, Scotland, or Ireland more than one certificate for any one year.

Certificates of attorneys and others in England and Ireland to be taken out and stamped according to the provisions of Acts relating thereto.

62. The certificates of attorneys, solicitors, and proctors in England and Ireland are to be applied for, taken out, issued, dated, and stamped,

(1) In England, in accordance with the provisions in that behalf of an Act of the sixth and seventh years of Her Majesty, intituled 'An Act for consolidating and amending 'several of the laws relating to attorneys and solicitors,' and of an Act of the twenty-third and twenty-fourth years of Her Majesty, intituled An Act to amend the 'laws relating to attorneys and solicitors and certificated 'conveyancers.'

SPECIAL REGULATIONS.

(2) In Ireland, in accordance with the provisions in that behalf of The Attorneys and Solicitors Act, Ireland, 1866.'

Other certificates how to be taken out and stamped.

63. Every person required to take out a certificate to authorize him to practise,

(1) In Scotland, as a writer to the signet, solicitor, agent, or procurator;

(2) In England or Ireland, as a conveyancer, special pleader, or

draftsman in equity;

(3) In any part of the United Kingdom, as a notary public; shall yearly and every year, before he does any act in any of the aforesaid capacities, deliver to the Commissioners, or to their proper officer, in such manner and form as they shall direct, a note in writing stating his full name and the place where he carries on his business, and thereupon, and upon payment of the proper duty, shall be entitled to such certificate, which is to be duly stamped and issued to him by the Commissioners.

Certain certificates to be dated and to expire as in this section mentioned.

64. The certificates in this section specified are to be dated and to expire at the times hereinafter in that behalf mentioned;

that is to say, (1) The certificates of writers to the signet, solicitors, agents, attorneys, procurators, and notaries public in Scotland, and of conveyancers, special pleaders, and draftsmen in equity in England, are to be dated, if taken out between the thirty-first of October and the first of December, on the first of November, and if taken out at any other time, on the day on which they are issued, and are in all cases to expire on the thirty-first of October next after their date.

(2) The certificates of notaries public in England are to be dated, if taken out between the fifteenth of November