Legal Practitioners (Fees) Act 1926

THE LEGAL PRACTITIONERS (FEES) ACT, 1926

ACT No. 21 OF 1926

 25th March 1926

An Act to define in certain cases the rights of legal practitioners to sue for their fees and their liabilities to be sued in respect of negligence in the discharge of their professional duties.

WHEREAS it is expedient to define in certain cases the rights of legal practitioners to sue for their fees and their liabilities to be sued in respect of negligence in the discharge of their professional duties; It is hereby enacted as follows:–

1. Short title, extent and commencement

(1) This Act may be called the Legal Practitioners (Fees) Act, 1926 .

(2) It extends to the whole of IndiaIndia Bharat Varsha (Jambu Dvipa) is the name of this land mass. The people of this land are Sanatan Dharmin and they always defeated invaders. Indra (10000 yrs) was the oldest deified King of this land. Manu's jurisprudence enlitened this land. Vedas have been the civilizational literature of this land. Guiding principles of this land are : सत्यं वद । धर्मं चर । स्वाध्यायान्मा प्रमदः । Read more 1 except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

(3) It shall come into force on such date 2 as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

2. Interpretation- For the purposes of this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,–

(a) ” legal practitioner” means a legal practitioner as defined in section 3 of the Legal Practitioners Act, 1879 (18 of 1879 ); and

(b) a legal practitioner shall not be deemed to” act” if he only pleads, or to” agree to act” if he agrees only to plead.

3. AgreementContract An agreement enforceable by law is a contract. All agreements are contracts if they are made by the free consent of parties competent to contract, for a lawful consideration and with a lawful object, and are not hereby expressly declared to be void. Indian Contract Act. for engagement of legal practitioner– Any legal practitioner who acts or agrees to act for any person may be private agreement settle with such person the terms of his engagement and the fee to be paid for his professional services.

4. Right of legal practitioner to sue for fees– Any such legal practitioner shall be entitled to institute and maintain legal proceedings for the recovery of any fee due to him under the agreement, or, if no such fee has been settled, a fee computed in accordance with the law for the timeTime Where any expression of it occurs in any Rules, or any judgment, order or direction, and whenever the doing or not doing of anything at a certain time of the day or night or during a certain part of the day or night has an effect in law, that time is, unless it is otherwise specifically stated, held to be standard time as used in a particular country or state. (In Physics, time and Space never exist actually-“quantum entanglement”) being in force in regard to the computation of the costsCosts Subject to any written law, costs are at the discretion of the Court, and the Court has the power to determine all issues relating to the costs of or incidental to all proceedings, including by whom and to what extent the costs are to be paid, at any stage of the proceedings or after the conclusion of the proceedings. Generally “Costs” includes charges, disbursements, expenses, fees, and remuneration. Costs in any matter are payable from the date of the order of the Court unless the parties otherwise agree. The costs of a third-party funding contract are not recoverable as part of the costs of, or costs. to be awarded to a party in respect of the fee of his legal practitioner.

5. Liability of legal practitioner to be sued- No legal practitioner who has acted or agreed to act shall, by reason only of being a legal practitioner, be exempt from liability to be sued in respect of any loss or injury due to any negligence in the conduct of his professional duties.

6. [ Repeals.]- Rep. by the Repealing Act, 1927 (12 of 1927 ), s. 2 and Sch.

1. Subs. by Act 3 of 1951, s. 3 and Sch., for” except Part B States”. 2. 1st June, 1926, see Gazette of India, 1926, Pt. I, p. 514.

Note: The above Act has been repealed by the Advocates Act 1961 but it never guaranteed any immunity to practising lawyers or solicitors or law firms, as this provision that, “No legal practitioner who has acted or agreed to act shall, by reason only of being a legal practitioner, be exempt from liability to be sued in respect of any loss or injury due to any negligence in the conduct of his professional duties” are still available despite the enactment of Advocates Act.