§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (VISCOUNT SANKEY)My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time. The object of it is to consolidate the law relating to solicitors. It is not proposed to alter the law or make any addition to it. The number of solicitors in England and Wales is about 15,000, of whom about 5,000 carry on their profession in London. The profession is regulated by many statutory provisions both with regard to remuneration and relationship with their clients. There are as many as 232 sections dealing with solicitors and unfortunately they are contained in twenty-seven Acts of Parliament, with the result, so to speak, that instead of having one volume in which the law of solicitors is contained there is almost a library. The object of this Bill is to gather together 10 all those various 232 sections in the twenty-seven Acts of Parliament and to bring them into one Act of Parliament only. This will be not only a great convenience for the public but in the interests of the solicitors themselves, who are anxious to support this Bill. I beg to move that the Bill be now read a second time.
§ Moved, That this Bill be now read 2a.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Bill read 2a, and referred to the Joint Committee on Consolidation Bills.