SOLICITORS BILL. (Hansard, 3 July 1928)

§ LORD DARLING
My Lords, in moving that the House do now resolve itself into Committee, I think it will save time if I explain in a very few words the meaning of the Amendments which appear on the Paper. Your Lordships will see that the Amendments are almost as long as the Bill in its original form. I introduced the Bill, as your Lordships know, after it had passed the House of Commons, and it was originally drawn by solicitors themselves. They are learned men, but they are more accustomed to drawing bills of costs than bills of a disciplinary character, and the consequence is that this Bill was found to be very ill expressed from a Parliamentary point of view. It has now received the minute scrutiny of the Parliamentary drafts man, and all the Amendments that stand in my name on the Paper are really only drafting Amendments to make the Bill perfectly clear for those who may have to interpret what was really intended—which it would not have been if your Lordships had passed it in the state in which it was introduced into this House.

THE LORD CHAIRMAN
I understand that, these are all drafting Amendments.

§ LORD DARLING
Yes.

§ LORD HANWORTH
In supporting this Amendment, may I say that none of these amendments makes any change of any sort or kind in the Bill. There is no status known of a solicitor who has 814 been struck off the roll. He is rather a curious person. He was a solicitor once; but he is no longer upon the roll and in that sense is not a practicing solicitor. Attention has been called to this and it is necessary to put in some such words as "disqualified from practising as a solicitor" and so on. May I also explain to your Lordships in regard to later Amendments that the appeal given to the Master of the Rolls is rather ill drawn in the Bill as it stands and the Amendments make it clear. The Master of the Rolls has certain powers in reference to certain cases which are brought before him, and the Bill needs a few words in order to bring it into line with those powers. Lastly, I may say that the only change, if change it be, is that a solicitor who comes within the ambit of the Bill may be dealt with more leniently by the Committee set up under Section 12 of the Solicitors Act, 1888, and not necessarily struck off the roll; a smaller punishment can be given him. That is provided for in subsection (4). Subject to that there is absolutely no change and the Amendments are merely drafting Amendments throughout.

THE LORD CHAIRMAN
In that case it will probably be in accordance with Your Lordships' wishes that they should be dealt with in a rather quicker form than usual.