{"id":29595,"date":"2023-11-28T22:16:58","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T22:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/?p=29595"},"modified":"2023-12-09T09:25:12","modified_gmt":"2023-12-09T09:25:12","slug":"solicitors-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/solicitors-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Solicitors History"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_63 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/solicitors-history\/#Solicitors_Attorneys_Barristers\" title=\"Solicitors Attorneys &amp; Barristers\">Solicitors Attorneys &amp; Barristers<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/solicitors-history\/#Admission\" title=\"Admission\">Admission<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/solicitors-history\/#Apprenticeship_Required_by_Law\" title=\"Apprenticeship Required by Law\">Apprenticeship Required by Law<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/solicitors-history\/#1790s_-1830s\" title=\"1790s -1830s\">1790s -1830s<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/solicitors-history\/#The_Law_Society\" title=\"The Law Society\">The Law Society<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/solicitors-history\/#Unification_of_Solicitors_Attorneys\" title=\"Unification of Solicitors &amp; Attorneys\">Unification of Solicitors &amp; Attorneys<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/solicitors-history\/#1841_Rules\" title=\"1841 Rules\">1841 Rules<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/solicitors-history\/#Incorporated_Law_Society_1852\" title=\"Incorporated Law Society 1852\">Incorporated Law Society 1852<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Solicitors_Attorneys_Barristers\"><\/span>Solicitors Attorneys &amp; Barristers<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The division between barristers and solicitors has been present for many hundreds of years.\u00a0 Barristers specialised in pleading cases and attorneys and solicitors instruct barristers and act in preparatory steps in a court hearing and also in legal matters not involving litigation.<\/p>\n<p>Attorneys were attached to one of the three courts of common law and solicitors were attached to the court of chancery.\u00a0 When the single Supreme Court of Judicature was formed in 1877, the expression solicitor supplanted that of attorney.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Admission\"><\/span>Admission<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Historically admission to the legal profession was regulated by the courts.\u00a0 The courts recognised the right of a party to litigation to appoint a person to represent him as an attorney in legal proceedings.<\/p>\n<p>The previous informal manner of admission to the legal profession came to be regulated by the adoption of statutes by the Benchers of the Honourable Society of King&#8217;s Inns.\u00a0 The Benchers\u00a0 comprise judges and senior lawyers and was formed in 1539.<\/p>\n<p>By the early 17th Century, \u00a0persons could not be admitted as attorneys in any of the court unless they were first admitted to membership of the Society.\u00a0 It appears that some period of formal apprenticeship was required.\u00a0 Attorneys were obliged to have paid commons and other duties to the King&#8217;s Inns.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Apprenticeship_Required_by_Law\"><\/span>Apprenticeship Required by Law<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>A 1733 Act required that the right to exercise the profession of attorney at law might be attained by persons binding themselves to service in the office of some admitted attorney for a certain period and afterwards applying to one of the courts of law in Ireland where they may be admitted to practise as an attorney in such court.\u00a0A person was not to be admitted unless he has so practised for five years.The indentures of apprenticeship were to be enrolled in the appropriate court with an affidavit of due service sworn.<\/p>\n<p>A person might also be admitted if he was an official of the court of chancery or to an admitted or licensed solicitor in England and Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>An \u00a0Act of 1773 required reputable practising attorneys of the court to enquire into the moral and educational qualifications of apprentices seeking admission.\u00a0 An apprentice could not be admitted unless he attended the courts in Dublin for two terms for each of three years during his apprenticeship.<\/p>\n<p>A Society of attorneys was formed in 1774.\u00a0 It set up a committee to supervise the application of the new law and the regulation of the profession.\u00a0 It proposed certain law reforms.<\/p>\n<p>The Law Club of Ireland was formed in 1791 and like the 1774 Society was later dissolved.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1790s_-1830s\"><\/span>1790s -1830s<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The 1792 Catholic Relief Act abolished legal disabilities for Catholics and dissenters \u00a0although they could not hold the position of King&#8217;s Counsel and in effect judges.\u00a0 This was later removed in 1829.<\/p>\n<p>In the same year the Benchers \u00a0issued new draft rules for the governance of the profession.\u00a0 A committee was appointed to confer with a committee of barristers and with a committee of attorneys on such rules as related to their respective practices.\u00a0The 1792 rules were rejected by the Bar and new rules were issued in 1793.]]<\/p>\n<p>The 1793 rules\u00a0 declared the Benchers&#8217;\u00a0 full authority to make rules for the business and practice of attorneys and for their admission to the said Society as members thereof, for the admissions of dealings into the said Society, concerning ranks and degrees and for advancement of knowledge in the science and practice of law.<\/p>\n<p>The rules required every barrister and solicitor to be \u00a0members of the Society and bar students to be members and to pay fees including a deposit for chambers. The rules derived their force from the fact that the Benchers comprised and included judges.<\/p>\n<p>Solicitors were granted a monopoly in the preparation of property deeds in Ireland in 1816 partly appeasing complaints regarding annual stamp duty of their practicing certificates which was \u00a0significant.<\/p>\n<p>1821 legislation allowed university graduates to be admitted as attorneys and solicitors after a shortened period of apprenticeship of three, instead of five years.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Law_Society\"><\/span>The Law Society<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The Law Society was established in 1830.\u00a0 Its principal objects were<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>preserve the rights and privileges of attorneys<\/li>\n<li>to promote useful communication amongst members of the profession, fair and honourable practice and to adopt measures calculated to ensure respectability and advantage to the public<\/li>\n<li>to suggest to the authorities, such alterations as experience of \u00a0changing in circumstances may require for improving the rules and practice of the courts of law and equity<\/li>\n<li>to adopt such measures as may be best calculated to prevent admission of uneducated or improper persons and to prevent unqualified persons from practising<\/li>\n<li>for procure and erect \u00a0hall for the purpose of the Society when the fund should be sufficient to do so.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>After 1843, copies of petitions and affidavits of prospective apprentices were to be lodged with the Society as well as with the King&#8217;s Inns in order to \u00a0vet apprentices.\u00a0The 1773 legislation continued to reserved the rights for judges to examine into the qualifications of applicants for admission to practice in the courts and to admit such persons and with such discretion as, theretofore.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Unification_of_Solicitors_Attorneys\"><\/span>Unification of Solicitors &amp; Attorneys<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>In 1836, the Benchers adopted the rule that any future applicant to take apprentices had to be not only admitted as an attorney in all three common \u00a0law courts, but a solicitor as well.\u00a0 This was a significant step in creating a unified profession of solicitor.<\/p>\n<p>In 1840 legislation provided that where a practitioner paid stamp duty on securing his admission in any of the four superior courts, he would be entitled to be admitted in the other three without additional duty.<\/p>\n<p>An applicant for admission had to post his intention in the Four Courts.\u00a0 Objections might be made.\u00a0In 1848, it was agreed by the Benchers that copies of petitions and affidavits for prospective apprentices should be lodged with the secretary of the Society as well as the King&#8217;s Inns so that the Society might object to persons they believed unsuitable.<\/p>\n<p>There was disagreement between the Law Society and King&#8217;s Inns regarding the basis on which the Benchers regulated the taking of apprentices by solicitors.\u00a0 The Law Society argued that apprentices were entitled to have their intentions enrolled without payment to King&#8217;s Inns provided they complied with the 1733 and 1773 Act.<\/p>\n<p>Attempts were made to introduce legislation in parliament by Daniel O&#8217;Connell to make the Law Society independent of King&#8217;s Inns and give it powers to make byelaws for the government of the Society.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1841_Rules\"><\/span>1841 Rules<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>In 1841, the Society adopted new rules.\u00a0 In particular it provided the Society would be formed<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>for the regulation of the profession of attorney and solicitor<\/li>\n<li>for protecting their rights and privileges<\/li>\n<li>for the institution and support of a library for the use of profession and<\/li>\n<li>the means of instructing apprentices.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It should be called the Society of Attorneys and Solicitors in Ireland.\u00a0The Society should give lectures and provide better education in the laws and practice in courts suggest \u00a0alternations of law, preserve the rights and privileges of the profession and regulate the admission of solicitors.<\/p>\n<p>The Law Society developed its \u00a0role as the spokesman for the solicitor&#8217;s branch of the profession at the expense of the Law Club of Ireland which it slowly eclipsed.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Incorporated_Law_Society_1852\"><\/span>Incorporated Law Society 1852<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The Law Society was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1852 for benefit of the profession. \u00a0The members of the Society were to be called a body politic and corporate in deed and by law by \u00a0the name of the Incorporated Society of Attorneys and Solicitors of Ireland with perpetual succession.\u00a0 The Charter recognised the Society&#8217;s roles and functions and its public role.<\/p>\n<p>The Society in its early years post-charter sought to inaugurate a scheme of education for apprentices and established its independence from King&#8217;s Inns.\u00a0 It also achieved an increasing degree of self-government and recognition of its position as the regulatory body for solicitor.\u00a0 This ultimately culminated in the Solicitor&#8217;s Ireland Act 1898.<\/p>\n<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-29595\" data-postid=\"29595\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-29595 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    <\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Solicitors Attorneys &amp; Barristers The division between barristers and solicitors has been present for many hundreds of years.\u00a0 Barristers specialised in pleading cases and attorneys and solicitors instruct barristers and act in preparatory steps in a court hearing and also in legal matters not involving litigation. Attorneys were attached to one of the three courts [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29595"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29595"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30045,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29595\/revisions\/30045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}