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 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
(d) passed the examinations and assessments
included in any course 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.
(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[3] (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
(1) For
a candidate who has a legal qualification, the qualifying examination shall
consist 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), constitutional law and administrative 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 (3), one paper on
a subject chosen by the candidate from the following options –
(i) private
international law and company law,
(ii) trust
law (and fidéicommis) and tax law, and
(iii) family
law.
(2) For
a candidate who does not have a legal qualification but who has the general
qualification, the qualifying examination shall consist of –
(a) a Preliminary Examination consisting of 6
papers on the following subjects –
(i) the
English law of contract,
(ii) the
law of tort,
(iii) principles
of English criminal law and the law of evidence,
(iv) principles
of English constitutional and administrative law,
(v) principles
of English equity and the law of trusts, and
(vi) the law of the European Union; and
(b) a Final Examination, which shall be the
examination described in paragraph (1).
(3) A
candidate shall be exempt from the paper on one of the optional subjects
described in paragraph (1)(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 1989 Rules.[4]
(4) The
syllabus for each of the subjects described in paragraphs (1) and (2)
shall be such as is issued from time to time by the Bailiff after consultation
with the Board.
(5) Each
qualifying examination or, where the examination consists of a Preliminary
Examination and a Final Examination, each Preliminary Examination and each
Final Examination, shall be held over 6 week days, and not more than one paper
shall be held on any day.
(6) Each
paper shall be of 3 hours duration.
(7) The
President of the Board shall –
(a) assign a number to each person sitting the
qualifying examination; and
(b) when notifying such a person of the date,
time and place of the qualifying examination, inform the person of the number
assigned to the person.
(8) A
paper written by a person sitting the qualifying examination shall be
identified only by the number assigned to the person.
4 Application to sit the qualifying examination
(1) Every
person applying to sit the qualifying examination shall produce evidence that the
person fulfils the requirements described in Article 5(1)(a) and (b) of
the principal Law.
(2) A
person applying to sit the qualifying examination described in Rule 3(1)
shall –
(a) produce evidence that the person has a legal
qualification or passed the Preliminary Examination described in Rule 3(2)(a);
and
(b) indicate which of the subjects described in Rule
3(1)(b) the person wishes to be examined in, or produce evidence that the person
has obtained one of the Certificats referred to
in Rule 3(3).
(3) A
person applying to sit the Preliminary Examination described in Rule 3(2)(a)
shall produce evidence that the person has the general qualification.
5 Conditional passes
(1) Where
the panel is of the opinion that a person who has failed to pass one of the
papers comprising the qualifying 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 qualifying
examination conditionally upon the person passing that paper.
(2) Where
a person re-examined in a paper in accordance with paragraph (1) fails
again to pass that paper, the panel may, at its discretion, permit the person
to be re-examined in that paper only on a further occasion or occasions.
(3) An
application to be re-examined in a paper shall be made in the same manner as an
application to sit the qualifying examination.
(4) In
this Rule, the “panel” means, in relation to a particular
qualifying examination or any paper of such an examination, the panel of
examiners appointed for that examination pursuant to Article 9(3) of the
principal Law.
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 Repeals etc.
Subject to the transitional
arrangement and savings in the Schedule, the following Rules are repealed –
Solicitors (Qualifying
Examination) (Jersey) Rules 1973;
Solicitors (Qualifying
Examination) (Amendment) (Jersey) Rules 1976;
Solicitors (Qualifying Examination)
(Amendment No. 2) (Jersey) Rules 1980;
Advocates (Examinations)
(Jersey) Rules 1989;
Advocates (Examinations)
(Amendment) (Jersey) Rules 1993;
Solicitors (Qualifying
Examination) (Re-examination) (Jersey) Rules 1994.
8 Citation
These Rules may be cited as the
Advocates and Solicitors (Qualifying Examination) Rules 1997.
SCHEDULE
(Rule 7)
TRANSITIONAL ARRANGEMENT AND
SAVINGS
1 Interpretation
In this Schedule –
“advocates’
examination” means the qualifying examination specified in the 1989 Rules;
“commencement date”
means the 1st day of January 1999;
“new Preliminary
Examination” means the examination described in Rule 3(2)(a);
“old Final
Examination” means Part Two of the qualifying examination specified in
the 1973 Rules;
“old Preliminary
Examination” means Part One of the qualifying examination specified in
the 1973 Rules;
“1973 Rules” means
the Solicitors (Qualifying Examination)
(Jersey) Rules 1973;[5]
“1989 Rules” means
the Advocates (Examinations) (Jersey)
Rules 1989[6]; and
“1994 Rules” means
the Solicitors (Qualifying Examination)
(Re-examination) (Jersey) Rules 1994.[7]
2 Transitional
arrangements
(1) A
person having the qualification described in Rule 2(1) of the 1973 Rules
who applies to sit the new Preliminary Examination within the period of 2 years
following the commencement date shall be deemed to have the general
qualification and, on applying to sit that examination, shall be deemed to have
complied with Rule 4(3) if the person produces evidence that the person has the
first mentioned qualification.
(2) A
person who has passed the old Preliminary Examination shall be deemed to have
the general qualification and to have passed the new Preliminary Examination
and, on applying to sit the qualifying examination described in Rule 3(1),
shall be deemed to have complied with Rule 4(2)(a) if the person produces
evidence that the person has passed the old Preliminary Examination.
(3) For
the purposes of paragraphs 2(1)(a)(ii) and 3 of Schedule 3 to the principal Law,
a person who passes the old Preliminary Examination and the qualifying
examination described in Rule 3(1) shall be deemed to have passed the
qualifying examination specified in the 1973 Rules.
3 Saving
for the 1989 Rules
(1) Where
a person who, before the commencement date, has sat but not passed the
advocates’ examination so elects, on application to the President of the
Board, the 1989 Rules shall continue to have effect in relation to the person
for the purposes of the person’s further examination in April 1999.
(2) Where,
before the commencement date or, in the case of a person who makes the election
described in paragraph (1), following the person’s examination in
April 1999, a person is treated, in accordance with Rule 2 of
the 1989 Rules, as having conditionally passed the advocates’
examination, the 1989 Rules shall continue to have effect in relation to the
person, for the purpose only of the person’s re-examination in the paper the
person has failed.
4 Saving
for the 1973 Rules and the 1994 Rules
(1) Where
a person who, before the commencement date, has sat but not passed the old
Preliminary Examination or the old Final Examination so elects, on application
to the President of the Board, the 1973 Rules and the 1994 Rules
shall continue to have effect in relation to the person for the purposes of the
person’s further examination in April 1999.
(2) Where,
before the commencement date or, in the case of a person who makes the election
described in paragraph (1), following the person’s examination in
April 1999, a person is treated in accordance with Rule 5 of the 1973
Rules as having conditionally passed the old Preliminary Examination or the old
Final Examination, the 1973 Rules and the 1994 Rules shall continue
to have effect in relation to the person, for the purpose only of the person’s
re-examination in the paper the person has failed.