(NO. 163.) SECOND READING. (Hansard, 4 July 1873)

THE LORD CHANCELLOR,
in moving that the Bill be now read the second time, said, that as it had already passed through the other House he did not suppose it was necessary for him to enter into the subject at any great length. As probably some of their Lordships were aware, the Bill was framed mainly upon the recommendations of the Law Commission of Scotland of 1868. At the present moment there were many peculiarities connected with the office of law agents, and their qualifications were not set down as clearly and as satisfactorily as they might be. The Commissioners accordingly recommended that whereas there then existed in Scotland various monopolies and special privileges of different corporations admitting law agents to practise, such monopolies should be abolished; that there should be one general examination and system of admission for the whole of Scotland; that anyone passing such examination should be entitled to practise in all the inferior Courts; and that anyone who passed a further examination should be admitted in the Supreme Courts. This Bill proposed to follow these recommendations, and, so far as related to the admission of law agents to practise, it would abolish all exclusive privileges. The simple object of the Bill was to create a uniform system of law agency all over Scotland. There might possibly be some matters of detail in the Bill which would give rise to discussion; but he did not know that the principle and main object involved would cause any difference of opinion. It had, in the main, received the approval of the legal profession in Scotland, although, as might have been expected, some of 1781 the privileged corporations objected to it.

§ LORD COLONSAY
said, that various representations had been made to him respecting the measure. Some of them were to a great extent favourable; but many of them were quite the reverse. The object of the Bill he himself fully approved; but he feared that the manner in which it was proposed to carry out the object would not be fair to existing interests, and particularly to existing law societies. The recommendations of the Law Commission were very good, but, if he mistook not, they were exceeded in the Bill. He considered that in any alteration in the law which might be considered desirable, existing interests should be respected as far as possible. He did not see that that was done in the present Bill, and he should therefore reserve to himself the right to propose any Amendment which he thought proper. The last clause of the Bill—that which proposed to repeal the Procurators (Scotland) Act of 1865—was, he considered, open to much objection. However, in the present stage of the Bill, he should throw no obstruction in its way.

§ THE DUKE OF RICHMOND
said, he concurred with all that had been said by the noble and learned Lord who had just sat down. He believed he was right in saying that there was a general feeling of dissatisfaction in Scotland with regard to the Bill—not with regard to its object, but with regard to the manner it was proposed to deal with some of the legal bodies most deeply interested in the subject. So far as the general principle of the Bill was concerned it was well enough. A gentleman well competent to speak on behalf of the legal opinion of Scotland, had sent him a letter in which he said that the passing of the Bill in its present form would be, in the opinion both of the Bench and the Bar of Scotland, highly injurious to those legal societies to which the noble and learned Lord had referred. It was an important question whether the Bill would benefit or injure such a body of persons as, for instance, the Writers to the Signet. If the Bill only lowered the status of those persons, it would, of course, be an injury to them, and it 1782 would also, he believed, be an injury to the public. It would be well to see, then, what was really proposed before agreeing to such a measure as that. He therefore was ready to support any Amendments which his noble and learned Friend thought would preserve the position and the character of those persons. Then there was the manner in which it was proposed to deal with the procurators. He considered that that was open to much question. There was, besides, the question of the Incorporated Societies. He believed that dealing with them was an after-thought. Such a clause was not in the Bill of 1872. If it was not thought proper to make such a proposition in 1872, he should like to know why it was proposed now. He considered that the clause should be as follows:— From and after the first day of February, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, the Procurators (Scotland) Act (1865) shall be and the same is hereby repealed, but such repeal shall not prevent societies formed under the said Act from continuing to act as incorporated societies, and electing such office-bearers as they please, and admitting members on such terms as they see fit, provided always that it shall not be necessary for any agent admitted under this Act to become a member of any such society.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR
said, that all these things were matters of detail, which he hoped could be satisfactorily dealt with in Committee. The framers of the Bill were between two fires, because while one side urged that special interests should be respected, others urged that no privileges should be given to one body over another. He did not, however, think that these conflicting views need in any way interfere with the passing of the Bill.