eSwatini
Legal Practitioners Act, 1964
Act 15 of 1964
- Commenced on 14 January 1966
- [This is the version of this document at 1 December 1998.]
Part I – Preliminary
1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Legal Practitioners Act, 1964.2. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—“advocate” means person duly admitted to practise as an advocate in the courts;“articled clerk” means person duly bound to serve under articles of clerkship;“articles” or “articles of clerkship” means contract in writing whereby a person is duly bound to serve an attorney for a specified period in terms of this Act;“attorney” means person duly admitted to practise as an attorney-at-law in the courts;“contract of pupilage” means a contract in writing whereby a pupil crown counsel is bound to serve the Attorney-General as a pupil for a period specified in relation to articles of clerkship in terms of this Act;“conveyancer” means person duly admitted to practise as a conveyancer in Swaziland;“Council” means the Council of the Law Society established under this Act;[Added A.13/1988]“courts” means the Swaziland Court of Appeal, the High Court of Swaziland, the Swaziland Water Court, the Judicial Commissioner's Court, the Magistrates' Courts established under the Subordinate Courts Proclamation, Coroner's inquests held in terms of the Inquests Act, No. 59/1954, liquor licensing boards constituted under a law relating to liquor licensing and all other tribunals in which practitioners have the right of audience but, subject to the provisions of any other law, does not include any Swazi Court or Swazi Court of Appeal established under any law relating to such Courts;“Law Society” means the Law Society of Swaziland established under this Act;[Added A.13/1988]“legal practitioner” means person duly admitted to practise as an advocate, attorney, notary or conveyancer in terms of this Act or the law repealed by this Act and for the purposes of sections 24bis, ter, quat, quin and sext, includes a firm of practising attorneys, notaries and conveyancers;[Amended A.7/1973]“Master” means the Master of the High Court or an acting master or an assistant master;“Minister” means the Minister responsible for Justice;[Added A.13/1988]“notary” means person duly admitted to practise as a notary public;“Registrar” means the Registrar of the High Court or an Acting Registrar or an Assistant Registrar;“Pupil Crown Counsel” means a public officer appointed as such by the Public Service Commission who possesses the qualifications which would enable him to enter into articles of clerkship.[Added A.23/1969]3. Application of Act
No person shall be admitted and enrolled as a legal practitioner unless and until he has complied with the provisions of this Act.[Amended L.22/1965]4. Saving of rights and non-application to law officers
Part II – Admission of advocates
5. Admission of advocates
Part III – Admission of attorneys
6. Admission of attorneys
7. Articles (Schedule)
8. Examinations in law
No person shall be admitted as an attorney under section 6(1)(c)(iv) unless he has passed the examination or examinations prescribed by the Chief Justice under section 33(2)(b) and no person shall be admitted as an attorney under any paragraph of section 6 unless he has passed the practical examination referred to in section 33(4)(c) or has been exempted from passing such practical examination by Regulations made under section 33(2)(c).Part IV – Articles of clerkship
9. Information to be placed before Attorney-General by persons intending to become articled
Every person intending to serve an attorney under articles shall produce to the Attorney-General—10. Articles to be lodged with Attorney-General
11. Articles to be lodged with Registrar
12. Cession to be lodged with Attorney-General
13. Cession to be lodged with Registrar
14. Cession of articles registered outside Swaziland
Articles registered in Rhodesia, the Republic of South Africa or South-West Africa under the law for the time being in force in those countries for the registration of articles may, by leave of the High Court after lodging documents with the Attorney-General in like manner as is provided in section 12, be ceded to an attorney practising in Swaziland if the articled clerk has served not less than one year of such articles in such other country, and any period so served in such a country shall then be accepted as a portion of the term required to be served under the provisions of section 7:Provided that such a clerk shall serve not less than one year of the term in Swaziland.[Amended L.22/1965]15. Amendment of articles and cessions
The terms of deeds of articles of clerkship and deeds of cession of articles of clerkship may be amended by the parties thereto with the prior written consent of the Attorney-General.16. Only practising attorneys to have articled clerks: Restrictions on number of articled clerks
17. Powers of High Court
18. Continuous service under articles
Subject to section 17, a clerk articled to an attorney shall, during the whole term of service specified in the articles of clerkship, be and continue to be in the actual service of that attorney and in the office and under the direct personal supervision of that attorney or his partner or partners or manager being an attorney:Provided that—19. Articled clerk not to engage in other business: Rights of articled clerk
20. When advocate may enter into articles
No person admitted to practise as an advocate in the courts shall be qualified to enter into articles of clerkship under the provisions of this Act unless and until his name has been removed upon his own application from the roll of advocates.21. Period of service of Crown Counsel to count as articles
Any period served by a Crown Counsel under the Attorney-General or, with the approval of the Attorney-General, partly under the Attorney-General and partly under the Director of Public Prosecutions shall, whether such period relates to any time before or after the commencement of this Act, be deemed, for the purpose of this Act, to be a period of articles of clerkship under an attorney and such articles shall, upon being lodged with the Registrar and with effect from the commencement of that period, have the same force and effect as any other articles lodged with the Registrar under this Act.[Amended A.23/1969; K.O-I-C. 2/1974; A.13/1988]Part V – Admission of notaries
22. Admission of notaries
The High Court may, upon application made in the manner prescribed by this Act, admit and enrol as a notary any attorney who produces proof that—Part VI – Admission of conveyancers
23. Admission of conveyancers
The High Court may, upon application made in the manner prescribed by this Act, admit and enrol as a conveyancer any attorney who produces proof that—Part VII – Trust accounts, conduct of practitioners and disciplinary proceedings
24. Trust account
24bis. Duty of legal practitioner to extract list of trust account
24ter. Books of account to be examined by chartered accountant
Every practising legal practitioner other than an advocate, shall cause his books of account to be examined at his own expense at least once a year by an Auditor registered under the Accountants Act, 1985 and for the purposes of this Act, any reference to a public accountant shall be construed as a reference to a chartered accountant registered under that Act.[Added A.7/1973; Amended A.13/1988]24quat. Duty of legal practitioner to provide accountant's certificate
24quin. Legal practitioner to advise Attorney-General of name of his bank, etc.
24sext. Offences and penalties for contravention of section 24bis, ter, quat and quin
Any legal practitioner who fails to comply with section 24bis, ter, quat or quin shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine of five hundred emalangeni or imprisonment for eighteen months or both and shall be guilty of unprofessional conduct and liable to be struck off the roll or suspended from practice.[Added A.7/1973; Amended A.13/1988]25. Examination of protocol and registers of notaries
26. Offences
Part VIIA – Disciplinary provisions
[Added A.13/1988]27 Powers of the High Court
27bis. Disciplinary Tribunal and its procedure
27ter. Powers and functions of Tribunal
27quat. Appeals
Any person who is aggrieved—27quin. Manner of lodging complaints against legal practitioner
Where any person has a complaint regarding the professional conduct of a legal practitioner, he shall, in writing, submit the complaint to the Secretary to the Law Society who shall refer such complaint to the Chairman of the Tribunal for appropriate action as the Tribunal may determine.27sext. Other powers, immunities and privileges of Tribunal
In the performance of the functions of the Tribunal a member of the Tribunal and every person carrying out any such functions under the direction of the Tribunal shall have the same powers, privileges and immunities as a Judge of the High Court or, as the case may be, an Officer of the High Court and all proceedings before the Tribunal shall be privileged in the same manner and to the same extent as proceedings before the High Court.27oct. Removal from and restoration to the roll and publication of orders
27nov. Application of Part VIIA to law officers
The provisions of this Part shall apply to any person to whom the Law Officers Act, 1966 applies and who is also admitted and enrolled as a legal practitioner.Part VIII – Miscellaneous
28. Petition for admission and enrolment
Any person who wishes to be admitted and enrolled as a legal practitioner or who wishes to be granted a right of audience in any particular case or matter shall, by written petition, apply to the High Court after serving a copy of such petition upon the Attorney-General and the Secretary of the Law Society as provided by section 30.[Amended A.13/1988]29. Applicants for admission to supply certain information
Every person who applies to the High Court to be admitted and enrolled as a legal practitioner shall, in addition to such further information as the Attorney-General may require, furnish him with the following information—30. Petition for admission, re-admission or audience to be served on Attorney-General and Law Society
31. Records to be kept by Registrar
32. Preservation of rights of existing legal practitioners and restrictions on non-resident or non-citizen attorneys
33. Fees, Regulations and rules of court
Part IX – The Law Society of Swaziland
[Added A.13/1988]34. Establishment of the Law Society of Swaziland
35. Membership of the Society
36. Objects and functions of the Law Society
The objects and functions of the Law Society shall be—37. Council of the Law Society
38. Management and control of the Law Society
39. Annual general meetings
40. Special general meetings
A special general meeting of members shall be held when convoked—41. Quorum at general meetings
Unless otherwise provided in the Bye-laws, the quorum necessary for the transaction of the business of any annual or special general meeting shall be not less than half of the members of the Law Society resident in Swaziland.[Amended A.6/1990]42. Law Society may make Bye-laws
Part X – Law Society Fidelity Fund
[Added A.13/1988]43. Establishment of Fidelity Fund
44. Compensation for loss through dishonesty
45. Subrogation of Law Society
Part XI – Other provisions
[Added A.13/1988]46. Conferment of honour and dignity of King's Counsel
The King may, on the recommendation of the Chief Justice confer the honour and dignity of King's Counsel upon a legal practitioner who has rendered distinguished service in the legal profession in Swaziland.History of this document
01 December 1998 this version
Consolidation
14 January 1966
Commenced
Cited documents 0
Documents citing this one 10
Judgment 7
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