Sec. 8. Restriction on Solicitors' Act, 33 & 34 Vic. c. 28. Sum. p. 92. cancellation or reduction, and to give all such directions necessary or proper for the purpose of carrying such order into effect, or otherwise consequential thereon, as to the Court or judge may seem fit. 9. The Attorneys' and Solicitors' Act, 1870, shall not apply to any business to which this Act relates. GENERAL ORDER AS TO SCALE OF SOLICITORS' FEES IN MADE IN PURSUANCE OF THE SOLICITORS' REMUNERATION ACT, 1881 (44 & 45 VIC. c. 44). WE, the Right Honourable Roundell Baron Selborne, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, the Right Honourable John Duke, Lord Coleridge, Lord Chief Justice of England, the Right Honourable Sir George Jessel, Master of the Rolls, and Enoch Harvey, Esq., President of the Incorporated Law Society of Liverpool (being four of the persons in that behalf authorised by the Statute 44 & 45 Vic. c. 44), do hereby, in pursuance and execution of the powers given to us by the said Statute, and of all other powers and authorities enabling us in that behalf, order and direct in manner following: 1. This order is to take effect from and after the 31st Sum. p. 93. day of December, 1882, except that Schedule 1 hereto shall not apply to transactions respecting real property, the title to which has been registered under the Acts of 25 & 26 Vic. c. 53, 25 & 26 Vic. c. 67, and 38 & 39 Vic. c. 87. 2. Subject to the exception aforesaid, the remuneration of a solicitor in respect of business connected with sales, purchases, leases, mortgages, settlements, and other matters of conveyancing, and in respect of other business, not being business in any action, or transacted in any Court, or in the chambers of any judge or master, is to be regulated as follows, namely: (a.) In respect of sales, purchases, and mortgages completed, the remuneration of the solicitor having the conduct of the business, whether for the vendor, purchaser, mortgagor, or mortgagee, is to be that prescribed in Part I. of Schedule 1 to this order, and to be subject to the regulations therein contained. (b.) In respect of leases, and agreements for leases, of the kinds mentioned in Part II. of Schedule 1 to this order, or conveyances reserving rent, or agreements for the same, when the transactions shall have been completed, the remuneration of the solicitor having the conduct of the business is to be that prescribed in Part II. of such Schedule 1. (c.) In respect of business not hereinbefore pro vided for, connected with any transaction, the remuneration for which, if completed, is hereinbefore, or in Schedule 2 hereto prescribed, but which is not in fact completed, and in respect of settlements, mining leases or licences, or agreements therefor, reconveyances, transfers of mortgage, or further charges, not provided for hereinbefore or in Schedule 1 hereto, assignments of leases not by way of purchase or mortgage, and in respect of all other deeds or documents, and of all other business the remuneration for which is not herein before, or in Schedule 1 hereto prescribed, the remunera- Clause 7. tion is to be regulated according to the present Sum., p. 93. 3. Drafts and copies made in the course of business, the Sum., p. 94. remuneration for which is provided for by this crder, are to be the property of the client. 4. The remuneration prescribed by Schedule 1 to this Sum., p. 94. order is not to include stamps, counsel's fees, auctioneer's or valuer's charges, travelling or hotel expenses, fees paid on searches to public officers, on registrations, or to stewards of manors, costs of extracts from any register, record, or roll, or other disbursement reasonably and properly paid, nor any extra work occasioned by changes occurring in the course of any business, such as the death or insolvency of a party to the transaction, nor is it to include any business of a contentious character, nor any proceedings in any Court, but it shall include law stationers' charges, and allowances for time of the solicitor and his clerks, and for copying and parchment, and all other similar disbursements. 5. In respect of any business which is required to be, Sum., p. 95. and is, by special exertion, carried through in an ceptionally short space of time, a solicitor may be allowed. a proper additional remuneration for the special exertion, according to the circumstances. C. In all cases to which the scales prescribed in Schedule 1 Sum., p. 95. hereto shall apply, a solicitor may, before undertaking any business, by writing under his hand, communicated to the client, elect that his remuneration shall be according to the present system as altered by Schedule 2 hereto; but if no such election shall be made, his remuneration shall be according to the scale prescribed by this order. 7. A solicitor may accept from his client, and a client Sum., p. 96. Clause 7. Sum., p. 96. may give to his solicitor, security for the amount to become due to the solicitor for business to be transacted by him, and for interest on such amount, but so that interest is not to commence till the amount due is ascertained, either by agreement or taxation. A solicitor may charge interest at four per cent. per annum on his disbursements and costs, whether by scale or otherwise, from the expiration of one month from demand from the client. And in cases where the same are payable by an infant, or out of a fund not presently available, such demand may be made on the parent or guardian, or the trustee or other person liable. 8. In this order, and the schedules hereto, the following words and expressions shall have the meanings ascribed to them in the 3rd sub-section of section 1 of the Solicitors' Remuneration Act, 1881, viz. :— Solicitor, Client, Person. |