Advocates and
Solicitors (Qualifying Examination) Rules 1997
THE SUPERIOR NUMBER OF THE ROYAL COURT in pursuance of Article 13 of the Royal Court (Jersey) Law 1948[1] and Articles 4, 5, 6 and 11 of the Advocates and Solicitors (Jersey) Law 1997,[2] has
made the following Rules –
Commencement
[see endnotes]
1 Educational requirement for an applicant to sit the qualifying
examination
(1) A
person applying to sit the qualifying examination must have a legal
qualification or the general qualification.
(2) For
the purposes of these Rules, a person has a legal qualification if the person
has –
(a) a law degree of a British University or of
such other university or institution as the Board approves which conforms to
the requirements in Rule 2;
(b) passed the examinations and assessments
included in any course validated by the Common Professional Examination Board
in England and Wales;
(c) passed the examinations and assessments
included in any course –
(i) validated
by the Law Society of England and Wales for admission as a solicitor of the
Supreme Court of England and Wales (or the examinations formerly set by the Law
Society of England and Wales for that purpose), or
(ii) accredited
by the Law Society of Scotland for admission to the Roll of Solicitors in
Scotland; or
(d) passed the examinations and assessments
included in any course –
(i) validated
by the Bar Council for call to the Bar of England and Wales by any one of the
Inns of Court in England (or the examinations formerly set by the Council of Legal
Education for that purpose), or
(ii) validated
by the Faculty of Advocates in Scotland for admission as a member of the
Faculty of Advocates in Scotland; or
(e) passed the examinations and assessments
leading to the award of a Certificate of Professional Legal Studies by the
Institute of Professional Legal Studies of the Queen’s University of
Belfast or met such equivalent requirements as may be recognized for the time
being by –
(i) the
Law Society of Northern Ireland, or
(ii) the
Executive Council of the Honorable Society of the Inn of Court of Northern
Ireland.[3]
(3) For
the purposes of these Rules, a person has the general qualification if the person
has a degree other than a law degree within paragraph (2)(a).
2 Subjects to be included in law degree
(1) Subject
to paragraph (2), for the purposes of Article 4(2)(a)(i) of the Advocates and Solicitors (Jersey) Law 1997[4] (hereafter called the “principal Law”) and Rule 1, a law degree must
include the following subjects –
(a) the law of contract;
(b) the law of tort;
(c) criminal law;
(d) equity and the law of trusts;
(e) constitutional and administrative law; and
(f) the law of the European Union.
(2) Where,
in the opinion of the Board, a law degree awarded to a person requires a course
of legal study of a sufficiently comprehensive nature, the Board may, at its
discretion, treat the degree as satisfying the requirement in paragraph (1)
even though the subjects included in the degree do not wholly correspond with
the subjects specified in that paragraph.
3 The qualifying examination[5]
(1) A
candidate who has the general qualification, but not a legal qualification,
must sit a preliminary examination and a final examination.
(2) A
candidate who has a legal qualification need only sit the final examination.
(3) The
preliminary examination consists of 6 papers on the following
subjects –
(a) the English law of contract;
(b) the law of tort;
(c) principles of English criminal law and the
law of evidence;
(d) principles of English constitutional and
administrative law;
(e) principles of English equity and the law of
trusts; and
(f) the law of the European Union.
(4) The
final examination consists of –
(a) 5 papers on the following
subjects –
(i) the
Jersey legal system (including the history of Jersey law, its sources,
customary law, the writers on Jersey law and the relevance of Norman customary
law and English common law) and constitutional law,
(ii) the
law of contract and the law relating to security on movable property and bankruptcy,
(iii) testate
and intestate succession,
(iv) law
of immovable property and conveyancing, and
(v) civil
procedure and criminal procedure; and
(b) subject to paragraph (5), one paper on
a subject chosen by the candidate from the following options –
(i) company
law,
(ii) trust
law, and
(iii) family
law.
(5) A
candidate shall be exempt from the paper referred to in paragraph (4)(b)
if the candidate –
(a) has obtained from the University of
Caen –
(i) a Certificat
d’Etudes Juridiques Françaises et Normandes, or
(ii) a Certificat
d’Etudes de Droit Français et Normand; or
(b) has passed the examination specified in
Rule 2A(2) of the Advocates (Examinations) (Jersey) Rules 1989[6].
(6) The
syllabus for each of the subjects described in paragraphs (3) and (4) shall be
such as is issued from time to time by the Bailiff after consultation with the
Board.
(7) The
Board shall, in accordance with Article 6 of the principal Law, appoint
sessions for the holding of the preliminary examination (if necessary) and for
the holding of the final examination.
(8) Each
session shall be held over 6 weekdays with no more than one paper being held on
any one day.
(9) Each
paper in the preliminary examination shall be of 3 hours duration.
(10) Each
paper in the final examination shall be of 3 hours duration except the
paper referred to in paragraph (4)(b) which shall be of 2 hours
duration.
(11) The
President of the Board shall –
(a) assign a number to each candidate; and
(b) when notifying the candidate of the date, time
and place of the examination, inform the candidate of the number so assigned.
(12) A
paper written by a candidate shall be identified only by the number assigned to
the candidate.
(13) The
Board may supply to the candidates in the examination room books, papers or
information recorded in any form relevant to the paper concerned.
(14) No
book, paper or information recorded in any form relevant to an examination
shall be taken into or used in an examination room other than a book, paper or
information supplied by the Board pursuant to paragraph (13).
(15) A
candidate sitting the preliminary examination must attempt all the papers at
any one session.
(16) A
candidate sitting the final examination may not attempt less than 2 papers
at any one session.
(17) However,
if it remains for the candidate to pass only one paper, he or she may attempt
just that paper.
(18) Subject
to paragraph (20), in order to pass the final examination a candidate must
pass all the papers referred to in paragraph (4) required of that
candidate within a period of 4 successive sessions appointed by the Board under
paragraph (7) commencing with the session in which he or she first sat any
of those papers.
(19) A
candidate who has not passed all the papers within the period referred to in
paragraph (18) shall have failed the examination, but without prejudice to
his or her right to begin the final examination again at a subsequent session.
(20) If
the Board is satisfied that, within the period referred to in
paragraph (18), personal circumstances of an exceptional nature have
impaired the ability of a candidate to sit any one or more of the papers, the
Board may permit the candidate to attempt one or more of the papers after that
period.
4 Application to sit an examination[7]
(1) A
person applying to sit the preliminary examination shall produce evidence that
he or she –
(a) fulfils the requirements described in
Article 5(1)(a) and (b) of the principal Law; and
(b) has the general qualification.
(2) A
person applying to sit the final examination shall, when application is made at
the first of the sessions referred to in Rule 3(18) –
(a) produce evidence that he or she –
(i) fulfils
the requirements described in Article 5(1)(a) and (b) of the principal
Law, and
(ii) has
a legal qualification or has passed the preliminary examination;
(b) indicate which of the papers in the
examination he or she wishes to attempt at that session; and
(c) if the person claims an exemption under
Rule 3(5), produce evidence that he or she –
(i) has
obtained one of the Certificats referred to in
sub-paragraph (a) of that Rule, or
(ii) has
passed the examination referred to in sub-paragraph (b) of that Rule.
(3) A
person applying to sit the final examination shall, when application is made at
the second, third or fourth of the sessions referred to in Rule 3(18),
indicate which of the papers in the examination he or she wishes to attempt at
that session.
(4) An
application to the Board for permission under Rule 3(20) to attempt a
paper on a later occasion must be made in writing to the President of the
Board.
5 Conditional passes (preliminary examination)[8]
(1) If
the panel of examiners appointed under Article 9(3) of the principal Law
for the preliminary examination is of the opinion that a person who has failed
to pass one of the papers in that examination has attained a sufficiently high
standard generally, the person shall be –
(a) permitted to be re-examined in that paper
only; and
(b) treated as having passed the preliminary
examination conditionally upon passing that paper.
(2) If
a person re-examined in a paper fails again to pass that paper, the panel may
permit the person to be re-examined in that paper on a further occasion or
occasions.
(3) An
application under this Rule to be re-examined in a paper shall be made in the
same manner as an application to sit the preliminary examination, except that
the evidence referred to in Rule 4(1) need not be produced.
6 Co-opting of non-voting members to the Board etc.
(1) The
Board may co-opt so many non-voting members as are experienced in the setting
and marking of examinations in law (whether or not they are advocates or
solicitors) as it thinks fit.
(2) The
Board may appoint one or more such non-voting members as adviser to a panel of
examiners appointed pursuant to Article 9(3) of the principal Law on the
setting and marking of the qualifying examination it is conducting.
7 [9]
8 Citation
These Rules may be cited as the
Advocates and Solicitors (Qualifying Examination) Rules 1997.