§
'In section 50 of the Solicitors Act 1974 (jurisdiction of Supreme Court over solicitors, after subsection (2) there shall be inserted—
(3) An appeal shall lie to the Court of Appeal from any order made against a solicitor by the High Court or the Crown Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction in respect of solicitors under subsection (2).".'.—[The Solicitor-Genera1.]
§ Brought up, and read the First time.
§ 10.1 pm
§ The Solicitor General (Sir Ian Percival)I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Bernard Weatherill)With this, we may take new clause No. 2—Appeal to Court of Appeal
'An appeal shall lie to the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) from an order of the Court ordering a Solicitor to pay all or any part of the costs of any proceedings'.and Government amendment No. 1.
§ The Solicitor-GeneralThe Government's new clause is in pursuance of an undertakeing given in Committee to deal with a matter that was raised very properly by the Law Society because it needed dealing with. We did not deal with the matter in Committee because we wanted to make quite certain that we had got it right before tabling a new clause. I understand that all the people who are concerned with the clause agree that it does what we all want it to do.
The purpose of the amendment is this: it appeared that because these words had been left out in bringing into this statute the wording of a previous statute, it might have the unintended effect that a solicitor wishing to pursue the right of appeal given by the new clause would have to get leave to do so. The amendment ensures that that is not so. I shall say no more on the subject because I believe that what we are doing entirely meets the wishes of the Law Society and all right hon. and hon. Gentlemen who have spoken on the matter.
§ Sir Walter Clegg (North Fylde)I first declare an interest as a practising solicitor. I welcome the new clause that has been introduced by the Solicitor-General, because it amends a grave injustice. It enables solicitors to receive natural justice. I therefore welcome the clause.
§ Mr. Peter Archer (Warley, West)This is a good beginning to our debates. In Committee, the hon. Member for North Fylde (Sir W. Clegg) and I were allies in urging the matter on the Government, and in new clause 1 the Solicitor-General has obliged. So here we are, three voices in harmony. I rise only to say that we are grateful to the Solicitor-General, and I hope that he keeps it up.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Clause read a Second time, and added to the Bill.