Every Registrar shall keep in his office a roll on which shall be inserted the name of every person who shall have been admitted as a barrister of the Court.

The rolls of barristers in existence at the time this Act comes into force shall continue to be in force, and shall be deemed to be the rolls of barristers of the Court under this Act until a new roll or new rolls has or have been drawn up, under any rules hereafter to be made in pursuance of provisions hereinafter contained.

All barristers on the rolls as such at the time this Act comes into force shall be enrolled on any new roll of barristers made under the provisions of this Act, without payment of any fee.

Every male person of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, coming within any of the several descriptions in this section, shall, on complying with the other provisions of the Act, be entitled to be admitted and enrolled as a barrister of the Court:—

Any person who has been admitted as a barrister in any Superior or Supreme Court of any part of Her Majesty’s dominions, and who has passed an examination, as hereinafter provided, in the knowledge of the law of New Zealand, in as far as it differs from the law of England:

Any person who has been admitted a solicitor of the Court, provided no rule or enactment shall be in force to the effect that practitioners shall not practise both as barristers and solicitors, and who has passed such additional examination in general knowledge and law as hereinafter mentioned, if he applies for admission after the expiration of one year after this Act shall have come into force:

Any person who has been admitted as a graduate of any university of any part of Her Majesty’s dominions, and has passed an examination in law as hereinafter provided:

Any person who has passed such examination in general knowledge and law as hereinafter provided.

Provided that any person who has passed the examination either in general knowledge or law prescribed for solicitors by the enactments hereby repealed, or the regulations made in pursuance thereof, and has not been admitted, shall be deemed to have passed such examination under this Act, and shall, in respect of admission, be entitled to the like rights and privileges.

The Court, or a Judge thereof, before admitting any candidate, shall examine and inquire, or cause to be examined and inquired, by such ways and means as it or he shall think proper, touching—

The admission of the candidate, if previously admitted as a barrister or advocate as aforesaid;

The character of the candidate;

And the fitness and capacity of the candidate to act as a barrister of the Court.

The Court or Judge, if satisfied by examination and inquiry, or by certificate of examiners as hereinafter provided, that such candidate is duly qualified and competent to act as a barrister, shall make an order directing the name of the candidate to be placed upon the rolls of the Court as a barrister, and the same shall be so placed by the Registrar accordingly.

For the purpose of the examination and inquiry respecting the several matters hereinbefore specified, the Judges or any three of them may, from time to time, appoint such persons as they may think fit to be examiners for the purpose of examining candidates, and giving certificates that such candidates have satisfactorily passed an examination for the purposes hereinbefore mentioned.

Nothing herein contained shall preclude such Judges from appointing any of themselves to be an examiner or examiners for the purpose aforesaid.

Subject to the provisions of the next following section, the Judges shall from time to time make such general rules and regulations touching the qualification and examination of candidates, and touching the evidence of previous admission and of character, and touching any other matters whatever relating to the admission of barristers of the Court, as they may think fit.

Such rules and regulations shall contain provisions to the following effect, viz.:—

That candidates who have been admitted as barristers in any Superior or Supreme Court of any part of Her Majesty’s dominions shall be examined only as to their knowledge of the law of New Zealand so far as it differs from the law of England:

That candidates who shall have taken a degree in arts, science, or law from some university or other body in any part of Her Majesty’s dominions which has or hereafter may have power by law to grant such a degree shall be examined only in law:

That all other candidates shall be examined in law and general knowledge:

That solicitors on the roll who shall apply, at any time after the expiration of one year after this Act shall come into force, to be admitted as barristers, shall pass such additional examination both in general knowledge and in law as may be prescribed by regulations to be made by the Judges in that behalf.

Barristers of the Court shall have all the powers, privileges, duties, and responsibilities that barristers have in England.

Any barrister shall be removable by the Court from the rolls of the Court for reasonable cause, whensoever and wheresoever the same may have arisen, in the manner hereinafter provided.

No person shall act as a barrister in any Court in New Zealand who is not at the time of his so acting a barrister on the roll.

Every person who shall so act, not being on such roll as aforesaid, shall be deemed to be guilty of a contempt of the Court in which he shall so act, and may be punished accordingly, and shall also be liable to forfeit and pay any sum not exceeding fifty pounds for every such offence.

Every Registrar shall keep in his office a roll on which shall be inscribed the name of every person admitted as a solicitor of the Court.

The rolls existing at the time when this Act comes into force shall remain in force till a new one shall have been made, and all solicitors on the rolls as such at the time when this Act comes into force shall be enrolled in any new roll made under this Act without payment of any fee.

Every male person of the age of twenty-one years and upwards coming within any of the descriptions specified in the four subsections of this section shall, on complying with the other provisions of this Act, be entitled to be admitted and enrolled as a solicitor:—

Any person admitted a barrister of the Court, provided no rule or enactment shall be in force to the effect that practitioners shall not practise both as barristers and solicitors:

Any person who has been admitted as a solicitor in any Superior or Supreme Court of any part of Her Majesty’s dominions, and who has passed an examination, as hereinafter provided, in the knowledge of law, including the law of New Zealand in as far as it differs from the law of England:

Any person who has taken a degree in arts or law or science from some university or other body in any part of Her Majesty’s dominions which has or hereafter may have power by law to grant such degrees, and has passed an examination in law as herein mentioned:

Any person who has passed such examination in law and general knowledge as hereinafter mentioned.

Provided that any person who has passed the examination either in general knowledge or law prescribed for solicitors by the enactments hereby repealed, or the regulations made in pursuance thereof, and has not been admitted, shall be deemed to have passed such examination under this Act, and shall, in respect of admission, be entitled to the like rights and privileges.

The Court or a Judge thereof, before admitting any person to be a solicitor of the Court, shall examine and inquire, or cause to be examined and inquired, by such ways and means as he or it shall think proper touching,—

The admission of the candidate if previously admitted as a solicitor in any Superior or Supreme Court of any part of Her Majesty’s dominions, and the time when he ceased to apt in such capacity:

The character of the candidate:

And the fitness and capacity of the candidate to act as a solicitor of the said Court.

If the Court or the said Judge thereof shall he satisfied by such examination and inquiry, or by a certificate of examiners such as hereinafter mentioned, that such person is duly qualified and competent to act as a solicitor of the Court, the Court or Judge shall administer or cause to be administered to such person the oaths herein prescribed, and, after such oaths shall have been taken, shall cause such person to be admitted and his name to be enrolled as a solicitor of such Court, which admission shall be in writing signed by the Judges or a Judge of the said Court.

Every person, before he shall be admitted and enrolled as a solicitor, shall take the oath of allegiance, and the oath following:—

For the purpose of the examination and inquiry respecting the previous admission of any person, and of his fitness and competency to act as a solicitor, the Judges of the Court may, from time to time, appoint such persons as they may think fit (being either the same persons appointed under section nine or others) to be examiners, and to give the certificates that any person applying for admission as a solicitor has satisfactorily passed an examination for the purposes hereinbefore mentioned.

The Judges shall also have power from time to time to make such general rules and regulations touching such examination, and touching the evidence of previous admission, and of character, and touching any other matters relating to the admission and enrolment of solicitors, as they may think fit, which rules and regulations shall prescribe examinations in law and general knowledge.

The final examination, if more than one be prescribed, to be passed in law shall, as nearly as may be having reference to the laws in force in New Zealand, be of the same character and description as that which for the time being shall be prescribed in England for solicitors of the Supreme Court of Judicature in England.

No solicitor who shall be a prisoner in any prison shall, during his confinement in any prison, as a solicitor, in his own name or in the name of any solicitor, sue out any writ or process, or commence or prosecute or defend any action or suit in any Court.

Any solicitor so commencing, prosecuting, or defending any action or suit as aforesaid, or any solicitor permitting or empowering any such solicitor as aforesaid to commence, prosecute, or defend any action or suit in his name, shall be deemed to be guilty of a contempt of the Court, and punishable accordingly, upon the application of any person complaining thereof.

Such solicitor so commencing, prosecuting, or defending any action or suit as aforesaid shall he incapable of maintaining any action or suit in any Court whatever for the recovery of any fee, reward, or disbursement for or in respect of any business, matter, or thing done by him while such prisoner as aforesaid in his own name or in the name of any other solicitor.

If any solicitor shall wilfully and knowingly act as agent in any action, suit, or matter in the Court for any person not duly qualified to act as a solicitor, or permit or suffer his name to be made use of in any action or suit upon the account or for the profit of any unqualified person, or send any process to such unqualified person, or do any other act whereby to enable such unqualified person to appear, act, or practise in any respect as a solicitor in any action, suit, or matter in the Court, knowing such person not to be duly qualified;

Or shall, without the sanction of the Court or of a Judge thereof, knowingly employ or permit to act as a clerk, writer, or otherwise, in or about his business of a solicitor, any person who, being or having been a barrister or a solicitor, shall be under suspension from practice, or shall have been struck off the rolls of barristers or solicitors;

Such solicitor so offending may be struck off the rolls and for ever after disabled from practising as a solicitor, or may be suspended from practice for any period.

In any such case as hereinbefore last mentioned, on complaint made in a summary way against such unqualified person, the Court, on proof upon oath to its satisfaction that such unqualified person has acted drpractised as aforesaid, may commit such person to any prison, without bail, for any term not exceeding one year.

No person who has been convicted in any part of the British dominions of felony or perjury, or subornation of perjury, shall be enrolled or admitted to practice or shall practise as a barrister or solicitor in New Zealand; and, if any person who has or shall have been so convicted shall at any time hereafter practise as a barrister or solicitor of the Court of New Zealand, such person shall be liable to pay a penalty of five hundred pounds for every such offence.

But nothing herein contained shall, except as is herein specially provided, be deemed to alter or affect the existing powers of the Court, or any Judge thereof, to refuse to enrol or admit to practice as a barrister or solicitor any person whomsoever, or to affect the summary jurisdiction of the said Court or any Judge thereof over barristers and solicitors.

And nothing herein contained shall apply to any person who has obtained a free pardon for such felony or perjury, or subornation of perjury.

No solicitor, or executor, administrator, or assignee of any solicitor, shall commence or maintain any action for the recovery of any fees, charges, or disbursements for any business done by such solicitor until the expiration of one month after such solicitor, or executor, administrator, or assignee of such solicitor, shall have delivered to the party to be charged therewith, or left for him at his place of business, dwellinghouse, or last known place of abode, or forwarded by post in a registered letter, a bill of such fees, charges, and disbursements signed by such solicitor (or, in the case of a partnership, by any of the partners with the name of such partnership), or by the executors, administrators, or assignees of such solicitor, or enclosed in or accompanied by a letter signed in like manner referring to such bill:

Provided that nothing in this section contained shall be deemed to repeal, annul, or limit the operation of any enactment wherein special provision is made as to solicitors* bills of costs.

Upon the application of the party chargeable by such bill within such month, whether the business contained in such bill or any part thereof shall have been transacted in any Court or not, a Judge may refer, on such terms as he shall think fit, such bill and the demand of such solicitor, executor, administrator, or assignee thereupon, to be taxed and settled by the Registrar.

In case no such application as aforesaid shall be made within a month as aforesaid, then such reference may be made either upon the application of the solicitor, or of the executor, administrator, or assignee of the solicitor, whose bill may have been so as aforesaid delivered or left, or upon the application of the party chargeable by such bill, with such directions and subject to such conditions as the Judge making such reference shall think proper.

And the Judge may restrain such solicitor, or the executor, administrator, or assignee of such solicitor, from commencing or prosecuting any action touching such demand, pending such reference, upon such terms as shall be thought proper.

No such reference as aforesaid shall be directed upon an application made by the party chargeable with such bill after a verdict shall have been obtained or a writ of inquiry executed in any action for the recovery of the demand of such solicitor, or the executor, administrator, or assignee of such solicitor, or after the expiration of twelve months after such bill shall have been delivered or left as aforesaid, except under special circumstances, to be proved to the satisfaction of the Judge to whom the application for such reference shall be made.

Upon every such reference, if either the solicitor, or executor, administrator, or assignee of the solicitor, whose bill shall have been delivered or left, or the party chargeable with such bill, having due notice, shall refuse or neglect to attend such taxation, the officer to whom such reference shall be made may proceed to tax and settle such bill and demand ex parte.

In case any such reference as aforesaid shall be made upon the application of the party chargeable with such bill, or upon the application of such solicitor, or the executor, administrator, or assignee of such solicitor, and the party chargeable with such bill shall attend upon such taxation, the costs of such reference shall, except as hereinafter provided for, be paid according to the event of such taxation: that is to say, if such bill when taxed be less by a sixth part than the bill delivered or left, then such solicitor, or executor, administrator, or assignee of such solicitor, shall pay such costs; and, if such bill when taxed shall not be less by a sixth part than the bill delivered or left, then the party chargeable with such bill making such application or so attending shall pay such costs.

Every order to be made for such reference as aforesaid shall direct the officer to whom such reference shall be made to tax the costs of such reference to be so paid as aforesaid, and to certify what, upon such reference, shall be found to be due to or from such solicitor, or executor or assignee of such solicitor, in respect of such bill and demand, and of the costs of such reference if payable.

But such officer shall in all cases be at liberty to certify specially any circumstances relating to such bill or taxation; and the Judge may make thereupon any such order as he may think right respecting the payment of the costs of such taxation.

Where such reference shall be made, when the same is not authorized to be made except under special circumstances as hereinbefore provided, then the said Judge may, if he think fit, give special directions relative to the costs of such reference.

The Court or Judge, in the same cases in which they are respectively authorized to refer a bill which has been so as aforesaid delivered or left, may make such order for delivery by the solicitor, or the executor, administrator, or assignee of any solicitor, of such bill as aforesaid, and for the delivery-up of deeds, documents, or papers in his possession, custody, or power, or otherwise touching the same, in the same manner as where any such business has been transacted in the Court.

It shall not in any case be necessary in the first instance for any solicitor, or executor, administrator, or assignee of such solicitor, in proving a compliance with this Act, to prove the contents of the bill he may have delivered or left; but it shall be sufficient to prove that a bill of fees, charges, or disbursements, subscribed in the manner aforesaid, or enclosed in or accompanied by such letter as aforesaid, was delivered or left in manner aforesaid; but nevertheless it shall be competent for the other party to show that the bill so delivered or left was not such a bill as constituted a bond fide compliance with this Act.

A Judge may authorize a solicitor to commence an action for the recovery of his fees, charges, or disbursements against the party chargeable therewith, although one month shall not have expired from the delivery of a bill as aforesaid, on proof to the satisfaction of the said Judge that there is probable cause for believing that such party is about to quit the colony.

When any person, not the party chargeable with any such bill within the meaning of the provisions hereinbefore contained, shall be liable to pay or shall have paid such bill either to the solicitor, his executor, administrator, or assignee, or to the party chargeable with such bill as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for such person, his executor, administrator, or assignee, to make such appeal for a reference for the taxation and settlement of such bill as the party chargeable therewith might himself make, and the same reference and order shall be made thereupon, and the same course pursued in all respects, as if such application was made by the party so chargeable with such bill as aforesaid:

Provided that, in case such application is made when under the provisions herein contained a reference is not authorized to he made except under special circumstances, the Court or Judge to whom such application shall he made may take into consideration any additional special circumstances applicable to the person making such application, although such circumstances might not be applicable to the party so chargeable with the said bill as aforesaid if he was the party making the application.

In any case in which a trustee, executor, or administrator has become chargeable with any such bill as aforesaid, a Judge, if in his discretion he shall think fit, upon the application of a party interested in the property out of which such trustee, executor, or administrator may have paid or be entitled to pay such bill, may refer the same, and such solicitor’s, or executor’s, administrator’s, or assignee’s demand thereon, to be taxed and settled by the Registrar, with such directions and subject to such conditions as such Judge shall think fit; and may make such order as he may think fit for the payment of what may be found due, and of the costs of such reference, to or by such solicitor, or the executors, administrators, or assignees of such solicitor, by or to the party making such application, having regard to the provisions herein contained relative to applications for the like purpose by the party chargeable with such bill, so far as the same shall be applicable to such cases.

In exercising such discretion as aforesaid, the Judge may take into consideration the extent and nature of the interest of the party making the application.

But where any money shall be so directed to be paid by such solicitor, or the executors, administrators, or assigns of such solicitor, a Judge, if he think fit, may order the same or any part thereof to be paid to such trustee, executor, or administrator so chargeable with such bill, instead of being paid to the party making such application; and, where the party making the application shall pay any money to such solicitor, or executor, administrator, or assignee of such solicitor, in respect of such bill, he shall have the same right to be paid by such trustee, executor, or administrator so chargeable with such bill as such solicitor, or executor, administrator, or assignee of such solicitor, had.

For the purpose of any such reference, upon the application of the person not being the party chargeable within the meaning of the provisions aforesaid, or of a party interested as aforesaid, the Court or a Judge may order any such solicitor, or the executors, administrators, or assigns of any such solicitor, to deliver to the party making such application a copy of such bill, upon payment of the costs of such copy.

No bill which shall have been previously taxed and settled shall be again referred unless, under special circumstances, the Court or Judge to whom such application is made shall think fit to direct a re-taxation thereof.

The payment of any such bill as aforesaid shall in no case preclude the Court or Judge to whom application shall be made from referring such bill for taxation, if the special circumstances of the case shall, in the opinion of such Court or Judge, appear to require the same, upon such terms and conditions and subject to such directions as to such Court or Judge shall seem right: Provided the application for such reference be made within twelve months after payment.

All applications made under this Act to refer any such bill as aforesaid to be taxed and settled, and for the delivery of such bill, and for the delivering-up of deeds, documents, and papers, shall be made in the matter of such solicitor; and upon the taxation and settlement of any such bill the certificate of the officer by whom such bill shall be taxed shall (unless set aside or altered by order or rule of Court) be final and conclusive as to the amount thereof; and payment of the amount certified to be due and directed to be paid may be enforced according to the course of the Court; and such Court or any Judge thereof may order judgment to be entered up for such amount with costs, unless the retainer shall be disputed, or make such other order thereon as such Court or Judge shall deem proper.

No person shall act as a solicitor in any Court in New Zealand who is not at the time of his so acting a solicitor enrolled according to the provisions of this Act; and any person who shall offend against this provision shall be deemed to be guilty of a contempt of the Court in which he shall so act, and may be punished accordingly, and shall also be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds for every such offence.

If any man, not being a barrister or solicitor of the Court, shall act as a conveyancer, he shall forfeit and pay for every such offence any sum not exceeding the sum of fifty pounds.

No barrister shall act as such unless he shall have obtained from the Court a certificate which shall then be in force to the effect that he is on the roll of the Court as a barrister thereof.

Any barrister who shall offend against this provision shall be deemed guilty of a contempt of Court, and shall forfeit and pay a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds.

No solicitor shall act as such unless he shall have obtained from the Court a certificate which shall then be in force to the effect that he is on the roll of the Court as a solicitor thereof.

Any solicitor who shall offend against this provision shall be deemed guilty of a contempt of Court, and shall forfeit and pay a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds.

On application made to him for that purpose by any barrister or solicitor whose name shall be on the rolls of the Court as such respectively, any Registrar of the Court shall issue a certificate to him under the seal of the Court accordingly; and any such certificate shall be in force from the tenth day of January next after the issue thereof till the tenth day of January following, or, if the person applying for the same shall so require, until the tenth day of January only next ensuing the issue thereof.

The several sums of money mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act shall be taken and received as fees for the matters therein specified.

All fees payable and received under “The Law Practitioners Act, 1861,” and any Acts amending the same, and under this Act, in any judicial district, shall, until the establishment of a District Law Society, be applied, in such proportions and in such manner as the Judges, or any three or more of them, shall from time to time direct, in the purchase and maintenance of law libraries at such towns in New Zealand as such Judges, or any three or more of them, shall appoint, and all such libraries shall be for the use of the Court and the barristers and solicitors of such Court.

Subject to the provisions hereinafter mentioned, the Court, or, in default thereof, the Judge of the judicial district in which any such library has been or shall be established and maintained, may from time to time, until a District Law Society shall have been established within such district, make regulations for the management thereof, and impose penalties not exceeding five pounds for any breaches of the same.

Every District Law Society now established, or that may hereafter be established, shall be entitled to all fees payable and received under “The Law Practitioners Act, 1861,” and any Acts amending the same, or this Act, within any such district. All such fees shall form one fund, and shall be managed by the Council of such District Law Society, and shall be applied by such Council, in such manner as such Council shall from time to time direct, in the purchase and maintenance of law libraries in such towns in New Zealand as such Council shall direct, and for the preparation and publication of reports of legal decisions given in or affecting the colony, and for all such other purposes of or incidental to the objects of any such Society as may be authorized by the by-laws or rules of any such Society.

Every such library shall be for the use of the Supreme Court and such other Courts as the Council of the District Law Society, if any, for the district within which such library shall be, or, if there shall be no local Law Society, then as the Judges shall direct, and of the barristers and solicitors of the Court; and all law libraries within a district shall be managed as by the Council of the District Law Society shall be directed.

Out of the fees received under “The Law Practitioners Act, 1861,” and any Act amending the same, or this Act, the Judges or any three or more of them, may from time to time appropriate such reasonable sums as they may deem necessary for the purpose of paying fees to the examiners appointed by them to conduct or assist in the examination of candidates for admission as barristers or solicitors of the Court, and for purposes connected with such examination; and such fees may be appropriated out of the fees received under the said Acts and this Act in any judicial district in such proportion and manner as the said Judges shall think lit, notwithstanding the establishment of any District Law Societies.

Such appropriation shall he made only out of the fees paid by barristers or solicitors for examinations and admissions.

All moneys payable for the purposes of any such examination shall he defrayed by the Councils of the several District Law Societies upon the order of a Judge, and shall be a first charge on the fees liable to appropriation as hereinbefore mentioned.

The amount chargeable against and payable in every year by each District Law Society shall bear the same proportion to the total appropriation out of the said fees as the fees received by such Society bear to the aggregate of the like fees received throughout the colony.

Applications to strike a barrister or solicitor off the rolls shall be made by motion in the Court for a rule nisi.

Whenever a rule nisi has been granted by the Court calling upon a barrister or solicitor on the rolls thereof to show cause why he should not be struck off the rolls,—

The Court may discharge such rule on cause being shown before it, if it shall think fit; or

The Court may direct and order, if it shall think fit, on cause being shown against such rule, that the barrister or solicitor against whom it has been granted shall be suspended from acting as barrister or solicitor, and from enjoying all or any of the privileges of such barrister or solicitor, until the decision of the Court of Appeal upon such rule; or

If, upon cause being shown, the Court shall be of opinion that the rule ought to be made absolute, or that it is doubtful whether the rule ought to be discharged or made absolute, such Court shall reserve the case for the consideration of the Court of Appeal at its next sitting, and shall cause such rule, and all affidavits made in support of or against such rule, and all other proceedings referred to in such rule, to be forthwith transmitted to the Registrar of such Court of Appeal, and the Court of Appeal shall at its next sitting, whether the party or his counsel appear in support of or against such rule or not, decide thereupon, and order such rule to be made absolute or to be discharged, or may make such other order therein as it shall think fit.

Nothing in this Act contained, except as in the last preceding section mentioned, shall affect the summary jurisdiction of the Court over barristers and solicitors; but such Court shall have full power to suspend from practice or attach any barrister or solicitor, or to make such order as it may think fit respecting the practice of such barrister or solicitor, upon reasonable cause shown.

The Court may in its discretion reserve any question arising upon any application for the exercise of its summary jurisdiction upon a barrister or solicitor for the decision of the Court of Appeal upon a case stated; and the Court of Appeal shall have full power and authority to decide thereon and make such order as it may think fit.