Vande Matram! Here you are to know about the historical developments in the formation of regulations related to the legal profession in India.
Introduction:
The legal profession is recognised as noblest profession and is of high calling. Neither is the legal profession a trade or a business; nor is an attorney a
trader or a businessman. A lawyer has got to remember that he is expected to be
a gentleman in the true sense of the term in every little or big act in his
profession. No Government can function without laws and without the services of the
legal profession. The legal profession in India, which exist today is the outcome of the
legal system introduced by the British during the eighteenth century.
Establishment of Courts in India:
The rules of practice were formulated in India for the first time in the
year 1726 when the Court of Record in the name of Mayor's Courts and Courts of
Record in the name of Court of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery were established
in the three Presidency towns of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay on September 24,
1726 by a Charter granted by King George I. However, no provision was made as
to who could appear, argue and plead before such courts.
In 1774 the Supreme Court was established at Fort William in Bengal through
a Charter issued by King George II. Clause II of the Charter authorised the
Court to prescribe and regulate conditions for enrolment of attorney for
appearance before the courts of law.
The Indian lawyers had no right of appearance in the Supreme Court of
Judicature. It was only the English and Irish barristers and members of the Faculty
of Advocates in Scotland who were allowed to practice in the Supreme Court.
Thus, the Supreme Court was an exclusive preserve for members of the British
Legal Profession.
The Supreme Courts at Bombay and Madras were established
with the same jurisdiction and power as the Supreme Court at Calcutta had, and
the same powers for the enrolment of advocates and attorneys-at-law were
conferred on them with the exclusion of Indians to appear before such Courts.
Outside the metropolitan
towns of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay local courts for the administration of
civil and criminal justice were established in the mofussil areas. These courts
were termed as Sadar-e-diwani adalat (District Civil Court) and Sadar-e-nizamat
adalat (District Criminal Courts). The persons engaged in assisting the litigants
and courts were called vakils.
The Bengal Regulation of 1793
The Bengal Regulation of 1793 created for the first time a regular legal
profession and provided for the appointment of Hindus and Muslims as vakils or
native pleaders in the Courts of civil judicature in the provinces of Bengal,
Bihar and Orissa and gave to the Sadar-e-Diwani adalats, powers to enroll
pleaders for all Company's Courts, to fix the retaining fee for pleaders, and
to fix a scale based on a percentage of the value of the property.
The Bengal Regulation XXVII of 1814
The Bengal Regulation XXVII of 1814 empowered the pleaders to act as
arbitrators and give legal opinions on payment of fees.
Legal Practitioners Act 1846
The Legal Practitioners Act 1846 made the following major
changes in the then existing Regulations:
The office of pleaders was thrown open to all persons of whatever
nationality or religion they were.
The Sadar Court had to satisfy itself about their
character and qualification for the office.
Attorneys and barristers of any of Her-Majesty's Courts in
India were eligible to plead in any of the Sadar Courts.
The pleaders were allowed to enter into agreements with their
clients for their fees for professional services.
The barristers and attorneys of the Supreme Courts were empowered
to practice in the Company's Court.
But the discrimination that the Indian legal practitioners
could not appear before the Supreme Courts still persisted.
The Indian High Courts Act 1862
In 1862 the Indian High Courts Act 1862 was passed. The
Act is the beginning of reorganisation of judiciary in the country. The Act
provided for the setting up of High Courts in place of Supreme Courts in the
Presidency towns of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras and Sadar-e-Diwani adalat and
Sadar-eNizamat adalats were established in other parts of the country.
The Act provided for
making rules and regulation for enrolment of vakils, pleaders and attorneys.
The persons so admitted were entitled to represent parties and appear on behalf
of litigants before the courts and were subjected to the rules made by the High
Court or direction issued by it from time to time.
Legal Practitioners Act 1879
Legal Practitioners Act 1879 consolidated the law relating to the legal practitioners. Under this Act all the different grades of the legal
practitioners (except the revenue agents) were brought under the disciplinary jurisdiction
of the High Court.
An advocate or vakil on the roll of any higher court, or
a pleader of the Chief Court of the Punjab was entitled to practice in all the
courts subordinate to the court on the roll of which he was entered and in the
courts of all revenue officers, situated within the local limits of the
appellate jurisdiction of such court subject to the rules in force.
As per this law the three high courts were having different criteria and procedure for enrolling a vakil, pleader or mukhtar. But no female were allowed to enroll as vakil, pleader or mukhtar under this Act.
Legal Practitioners' (Women) Act 1923
To remove the disqualification for enrolment as pleaders on the ground of
sex the Legal Practitioners' (Women) Act 1923, was passed. The Act provided
that "no women shall, by reason only of her sex, be disqualified from
being admitted or enrolled as a legal practitioner." Thus since 1923 women
have been getting enrolled as legal practitioners in all the courts and the
number has been increasing year after year.
The Legal Practitioners' (Fees) Act 1926
The Legal Practitioners' (Fees) Act 1926, defined the right of legal
practitioners to sue for their fees and their liabilities to be sued in respect
of negligence and the discharge of their professional duties.
The Chamier Committee and The Indian Bar Council Act 1926
As stated earlier, there existed a sharp distinction between barristers and
solicitors on the one hand, and between vakils and pleaders on the other. Also British barristers and solicitors enjoyed a number of special privileges which led to great dissatisfaction and resentment among the Indian legal practitioners. To resolve this Indian Bar Committee under the chairmanship of Sir Edward Chamier was constitued by Government of India.
The Committee was asked to consider these points:
(i) the proposals made from time to time for constituting
an Indian Bar (whether an All India or Provincial Bar) with particular
reference to the constitution, recognition, functions and authority of Bar
Councils and their positions vis-a-vis High Courts; and
(ii) the extent to which it might be possible to remove
the existing disparity between barristers, solicitors, vakils and pleaders.
To implement some of the major recommendations of the Chamier Committee and
to consolidate and amend the law relating to the legal practitioners the Bar
Council Act 1926 was passed. This Act provided for the constitution of separate
Bar Councils as a corporate body for every High Court.
Disciplinary Proceedings:
The High Court was empowered to reprimand and suspend or remove
from practice any advocate of the High Court for professional or other
misconduct after giving a reasonable opportunity of hearing, against the
action. Complaints against advocates for professional or other misconduct had
to be made to the High Court. On receipt of a complaint, the High Court had to
refer the case for enquiry to the Bar Council, or after consultation with the
Bar Council, to a District Judge. The High Court had power to make such a
reference suo motu, even if there was no complaint. Cases referred to a Bar
Council had to be enquired into by a committee of the Bar Council (called
tribunal) comprising of not less than three and not more than five members
appointed by the Chief Justice of the High Court.
Justice S R Das Committee:
With the coming into force of the Constitution of India
in 1950 and the establishment of a Supreme Court for India the need for an all India
Bar was stressed by the legal fraternity. The Union Government accordingly set
up a committee known as the All India Bar Committee under the chairmanship of
Justice S. R. Das of the Supreme Court of India. The Committee considered at
length questions of the constitution and powers of the State Bar Councils and the All India Bar Council and
made detailed recommendations in 1953.
The Committee was of the view that the Bar should be made
autonomous in matters relating to the profession in all respects. The
Committee's recommendations got strength by the endorsement and approval of its
recommendation by the Law Commission of India in 1953, which was presided over
by the eminent jurist M. C. Setalvad, the then Attorney General of India.
The Law Commission of India in its fourteenth report on the
Reform of Judicial Administration approved of the recommendations for the
creation of a unified All India Bar as well as the establishment, composition
and function of the State and All India Bar Councils.
Advocates' Act 1961:
As a result of the recommendations the Legal Practitioners Bill 1959 was
introduced in the Lok Sabha on November 19, 1959 with a view to implement the
recommendations of the All India Bar Committee and of the Law Commission's 14th
Report. When the Bill came to be passed, its name was changed from the Legal
Practitioners Bill to the Advocates' Act and was passed in the year 1961 by the
Parliament. It received the assent of the President of India on May 19, 1961.
The Act envisages for a single class of legal practitioners, namely,
advocates, and has abolished the various categories of legal practitioners, such
as pleaders, revenue agents, mukhtars, vakils, barristers and solicitors.
The Act provides for framing of rules prescribing the standards of professional conduct and etiquette to be followed by a
practicing advocate. But the Act does not define as to who is a practicing
advocate. A practicing advocate may, however be defined as an advocate who is
entitled to practice and who holds himself out as ready and willing to do so,
and not being otherwise employed in any other whole time occupation.
The Act also gives power to the Central Bar Council of
India to recognize the degree in law for admission of advocates and prescribe standards
of legal education. The Act further lays down exhaustively the provision
relating to the constitution, powers and functions of the Bar Council of India
as well as the State Bar Councils.
And thus the rules and regulations regarding legal profession are now established across India by enactment of Advocate' Act 1961.
Reference:
1) Professional
Responsibility of Lawyers
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