SOLICITOR. Under the laws of Great Brit ain, a person duly admitted to practice law under the provisions of the Solicitor's Acts, and who thereby becomes an ofbc•er of the Supreme Court and entitled to certain privileges and immunities. Before the Judicature Act (1873) the term was applied only to persons who conducted litigation in the Court of Chancery, but by the above act all solicitors, attorneys, and proctors authorized to practice in any division of the High Court of Justice are known as solicitors of the Supreme Court. The Incorporated Law Society was ap pointed 'Registrar of Solicitors' in 1843, and in 1877 that society was given control of the exami nation of candidates for admission as solicitors. Candidates must serve an articled clerkship under a practicing solicitor for five years, and pass three rigid examinations, unless they are university graduates, writers to the signet, or Scotch solicitors or advocates, in which cases three years is sufficient. A barrister of five years' standing may procure himself to be disbarred, and on passing the final examination be admitted as a solicitor. Colonial solicitors of seven years' standing are exempted from this examination if they have already pas*ed one in their own colony. Each solicitor must obtain annually a certificate of his right to practice from the Registrar of Solicitors. A solicitor can practice in the High Court of Justice, the Court. of Appeal, the House
of Lords, Privy Council, and all inferior courts. They have a monopoly on certain legal business, as, for example, the attestation of doeuments re quired by the Land Transfer Act. A solicitor has a general lien on his client's papers for his charges; has peculiar and extensive powers with reference to binding his client in litigation which he conducts; and has certain personal privileges, as exemption from service in the militia. etc. The fees and costs of solicitors are fixed and regu lated by statute in great detail and must be ob served. Special provisions are made for the collection of these statutory fees. They are held to a strict accountability for reasonable skill in advice and the management of any matters in trusted to them, and are liable for any negligence or lack of reasonable skill and learning whereby a client is prejudiced. As a solicitor is an officer of the court the latter can exercise summary ju•isdiction over him in case of a breach of duty. A solicitor who permits another to practice in his name will be disbarred and can never be read mitted. Where a solicitor is struck off the rolls for other misconduct, he may be subsequently readmitted in the discretion of the court. Con sult, Christian, A Short History of Solicitors (189G) ; Co•dery, on Solicitors (1888).