The Law Society’s Gazette, May 1913Minutes of the Special General Meeting held in the Society’s Hall

Mr Ford asked the President whether, in view of the growth of officialdom in relation to the legal business of the country, the Council had considered, or would consider, the desirableness of seeking statutory authority for limiting the number of admissions on the roll of solicitors as was formerly the law.

The President said that when he read the question he did not know there had been any limitation except that no solicitor could have more than two articled clerks. It appeared, however, that in the year 1292 there had been a statute which limited the number of attorneys. This had been followed by an Act in 1455 under which the number of attorneys in Norfolk, Norwich and Suffolk was limited to 14. These measures had long disappeared from the Statute Book.

May 1963 The College of Law The First Year

May 1 was the first anniversary of the foundation of the College of Law. The classes for the 1963 Part 1 examination started on October 16. The entry for the first Part 1 was very large and was the direct result of the sudden and unforeseen increase in the number of intending articled clerks. Whereas the average number of articles registered in the 1950s was about 800 to 900 a year, the number of intending articled clerks enrolling with the Law Society in 1962 was nearly 2,000.

Reorganisation of the County Court

This being National Productivity Year would seem an appropriate time to draw attention to the waste of valuable time which inevitably occurs when attending County Court, especially in connection with judgment summonses. I can think of nothing more soul destroying than for a Learned Judge to sit listening to a procession of cases when only one debtor in 20 appears before the Court and when there is little or no evidence on which the Judge can make his decision.

May 1983 Cases of Petty Crime

His Honour Judge Henry Garrard decided at the Stafford Crown Court that the alleged theft of a two cwt sack of coal was too light a matter for the full weight of British justice. The defendant pleaded not guilty and the judge, in not proceeding with the case, said it would cost too much to decide whether or not the defendant was guilty.

The prosecution, which was conducted by Mr Nicholas Budgen MP, took the view that the case was not an open and shut one and admitted that the defendant had an arguable defence in that he acted innocently when he took the coal. The defendant was accordingly found not guilty.