Solicitor

A person whose business is to be employed in the care and management of suits depending in courts of chancery. A solicitor, like an attorney, will be required to act with perfect good faith towards his clients. He must conform to the authority given him. It Is said that, to institute a suit, he must have a special authority, although a general authority will be sufficient to defend one. The want of a written authority may subject him to the expenses incurred in a suit. 3 Mer. 12; Hovenden, Frauds, c. 2, pp. 28-61. See 1 PhiL Ev. 102; 2 Chit. Prac. 2. See "Attorney."

A person whose business is to be employed in the care and management of suits depending in courts of chancery. Formerly, in England, they corresponded to attorneys in common law practice. By the Judicature Act, 1873, all solicitors, attorneys and proctors are to be called solicitors of the supreme court. They are stringently regulated by various acts. They are required to pass an entrance examination before the Law Society, which hears applications to strike them off the roll. A solicitor must be a British subject, who has served as a clerk to a practicing solicitor under binding articles from three to five years, passed various examinations and entered on the roll of solicitors by the Law Society. But a barrister of not less than five years standing may have himself disbarred and become a solicitor without examination except the final examination. After his name is on the roll, he must annually take out a certificate duly stamped. The certificate of a country solicitor does not enable him to practice in town; hence nearly every country solicitor employs a London solicitor as his town agent. In the High Court of Justice, in the Court of Appeal and in the House of Lords, and before the Judicial Committee of Privy Council, a barrister must be employed, as well as a solicitor; but a solicitor can plead before justices or any magistrate, sheriff's court, a coroner, revising barrister, ecclesiastical courts, in every county court, etc., courts of petty sessions, and at chambers in the High Court, but not in the mayor's court of London, and in the court of quarter sessions only for those counties for which no bar regularly attends. No person who is not a solicitor can act as one or sue out any proceeding or defend any action. A solicitor has very extensive authority, especially in litigious matters, but in other matters is more restricted. His charges are fixed by law. He must first deliver a bill of costs and ordinarily wait a full calendar month before he can bring suit for it. A solicitor may not receive anything beyond his regular charges; [1895] 2 Q. B. 679. Any gift would be presumed to be the result of undue influence, but the presumption may be rebutted. By recent acts solicitors are permitted to act as proctors in all ecclesiastical courts, and proctors are not now a separate profession; Odgers, C. L. 1431.

In English law. A legal practitioner in the court of chancery. The words "solicitor" and "attorney" are commonly used indiscriminately, although they are not precisely the same, an attorney being a practitioner in the courts of common law, a solicitor a practitioner in the courts of equity. Most attorneys take out a certificate to practice in the courts of chancery, and therefore become solicitors also, and, on the other hand, most, if not all, solicitors take out a certificate to practice in the courts of common law, and therefore become attorneys also. Brown.

— Solicitor general. In English law. One of the principal law officers of the crown, associated in his duties with the attorney general, holding office by patent during the pleasure of the sovereign, and having a right of preaudience in the courts. 3 Bl. Comm. 27. In American law, an officer of the department of justice, next in rank and authority to the attorney general, whose principal assistant he is. His chief function is to represent the United States in all cases in the supreme court and the court of claims in which the government is interested or to which it is a party, and to discharge the duties of the attorney general in the absence or disability of that officer or when there is a vacancy in the office. Rev. St. U. S. §§ 347, 359 (U. S. Comp. St. 1901, pp. 202, 207).

— Solicitor of the supreme court. The solicitors before the supreme courts, in Scotland, are a body of solicitors entitled to practice in the court of session, etc. Their charter of incorporation bears date August 10, 1797.

— Solicitor of the treasury. An officer of the United States attached to the department of justice, having general charge of the law business appertaining to the treasury.

— Solicitor to the suitors' fund. An officer of the English court of chancery, who is appointed in certain cases guardian ad litem.

A person admitted to practice in courts of chancery, corresponding with attorney at common law.

In English law. Solicitor-general: a law officer of the crown appointed by patent, and having the care of the sovereign's affairs,— attorney-general.

The attorneys in Chancery

In English practice, has heretofore been the style or title of a practitioner in the court of chancery. The two words, solicitor and attorney, have, however, been commonly used indiscriminately; although there was a distinction between the titles, — an attorney being a practitioner in the courts of common law, a solicitor, a practitioner in the courts of equity. But as attorneys took out a certificate to practise in the courts of chancery, and therefore became solicitors also, and solicitors took out a certificate to practise in the courts of common law, and therefore became attorneys also, it was common to use the two words as interchangeable. But the judicature acts introduce a change in this respect. They provide for only one admission to practise in all the courts, as attorney, solicitor, or proctor; and direct that all three classes shall be known as solicitors of the supreme court. In other words, the title solicitor, in England, now embraces the functions of attorneys and proctors, as well as those of practitioners in equity courts. Throughout the United States, solicitor has been but little used as a title of a distinct class of practitioners; for the reason that all three classes of practitioners have generally been admitted as attorneys-at-law, — there has not usually been any distinct privilege of practising as proctor or as solicitor. Solicitor of the supreme court. In Scotland, the solicitors before the supreme courts are a body of men entitled to practise in the court of session, &c. In England, the attorneys, solicitors, and proctors admitted to practise in the supreme court of judicature are, by the judicature acts, to have this title. Solicitor of the treasury. The title of an officer now of the department of justice in the United States government, having general charge of law business arising out of the operations of the treasury. Solicitor-general. The style or title of the second law-officer in the English government, ranking next to the attorney-general; also, that of a similar officer under the United States government, who is connected with the department of justice. Also, in some of the states, the title of the chief law-officer, or one corresponding with the attorney-general in other states.