The Advocates Act

This provision says the Act may be cited as the Advocates Act.

This section defines key terms used in the Act, including advocate, client, Committee, costs, Council, Minister, parastatal organisation, practising certificate, Registrar, Remuneration Committee, Roll, and taxing officer.

Certain officers may practise as advocates in specified courts and do related functions, if they are acting in connection with their office and subject to the Act.

This section establishes the Advocates Committee and sets rules for its membership, chairing, quorum, voting, temporary replacements, disqualification, and secretary appointment.

The Committee’s meetings are to be held at the times and places fixed by the Attorney-General.

This section establishes the Council of Legal Education and sets rules for its membership, meetings, quorum, voting, and procedure.

The Council must carry out powers given by law, supervise and control legal education in Tanzania for this Act, and advise the Government.

A Permanent Secretariat is responsible for administering and managing the Council, and during the interim period it must allocate law graduates from accredited universities for practical legal training.

The Permanent Secretariat must provide logistical and technical support to the Council for monitoring and controlling the practical legal training programme in Tanzania.

The Registrar must keep a Roll of all advocates.

The Registrar must enter the name of every person qualified to practise as an advocate in Tanzania on the Roll.

A person may apply to be admitted as an advocate if they meet specified qualifications, and the Chief Justice must admit qualified applicants unless there is cause to refuse.

Advocates rank by the order their names are entered on the Roll, but the Attorney-General ranks above all other advocates.

The Attorney-General may convene a Committee meeting at any time, and must do so if the Committee’s chairman requests it.

The Attorney-General may act on information brought to his notice in any manner, when exercising the power under section 10.

The Attorney-General may require a person who accuses an advocate of misconduct to back up the allegation with an affidavit stating the facts relied on.

The Committee can hear and decide applications about removing an advocate from the Roll and misconduct allegations, and it can order remedies after a hearing.

The Committee may make rules, with the Chief Justice’s approval, and the chairman may administer oaths and issue summonses for applications under this Part.

A person served with a summons under section 13 must attend, answer questions, and produce required documents, or face a fine of up to one thousand shillings.

Sections 16–21 are repealed by Act No. 39 of 1969 s. 7.

The section preserves the Chief Justice’s, the High Court’s, and a High Court judge’s power to discipline advocates, including admonition, suspension, and removal from the Roll, and gives an aggrieved advocate a right to appeal within 30 days.

This section was repealed by Act No. 39 of 1969, section 7.

The Registrar must record certain disciplinary actions against an advocate’s name on the Roll and send certified copies of specified orders to the relevant East African courts.

An aggrieved advocate may appeal a Committee decision or order to the High Court within 30 days.

An advocate suspended or removed in a reciprocating Commonwealth country may also be suspended or removed in Tanzania, unless the Chief Justice orders otherwise.

If an advocate is removed from the Roll or suspended from practice, any practising certificate is treated as cancelled or, for a shorter suspension, suspended for that shorter period.

An advocate’s name generally cannot be removed from the Roll for a defect in admission or enrolment, unless the removal application is made within six months of enrolment. The section does not apply where fraud is proved.

People suspended from practice or removed from the Roll may apply to the High Court for relief, but timing limits apply and there is a special reconsideration route if new material facts arise.

An application under section 28 must be made by petition with a supported affidavit, and a copy must be served on the Attorney-General at least 7 days before the hearing.

The petition is to be heard in open court, and the petitioner and the Attorney-General may appear or be represented.

The High Court may require verification on oath or further evidence, adjourn the petition for up to two years, and make orders about suspension, removal from the Roll, and re-admission.

If the High Court refuses certain suspension or re-admission orders, it may order the applicant to pay the Attorney-General’s taxed costs or another amount set by the Court.

Prior civil or criminal proceedings do not stop proceedings under this Part, and proceedings under this Part do not stop related civil, criminal, or other remedies. The High Court may still admonish an advocate, remove the advocate from the Roll, suspend the advocate from practice, or use powers under section 22.

The Registrar must issue practising certificates for named advocates; Law Officers and State Attorneys generally cannot be issued such certificates while serving, unless the Attorney General exempts them.

Advocates applying for a practising certificate must file a declaration, pay the required fees and subscription, and the Registrar must enter the details in a register and issue the certificate if the stated conditions are met.

An advocate in certain situations must give the Registrar at least six weeks’ notice before applying for a practising certificate, unless the Chief Justice orders otherwise.

An advocate’s practising certificate is suspended immediately if the advocate is adjudicated bankrupt, and the suspension lasts until a listed ending event occurs.

A practising certificate generally takes effect when the Registrar issues it, and it expires on 31 December of the following year. The Registrar must also enter the certificate issue date on the Roll.

A person may not act as an advocate unless their name is on the Roll, they have a practising certificate, and they have a valid business licence.

An advocate with a practising certificate may practise in the High Court or subordinate courts, and may perform certain functions available in England to barristers or solicitors.

Unqualified persons must not act as advocates or carry on legal proceedings for others; doing so is an offence and can lead to a fine.

An unqualified person must not pretend to be, or use a title of, a legal practitioner/advocate.

An unqualified person must not draw or prepare certain legal and property instruments unless the act was not done for fee, gain, or reward.

People who prepare certain instruments must write or cause to be written their name and address on the instrument, and registering authorities must not accept an instrument unless it shows the preparer’s name.

A body corporate, or its director, officer, or servant, commits an offence if it acts in a way that suggests the body corporate is qualified to act as an advocate.

The Chief Justice may order a declared tout excluded from court precincts, after giving that person a chance to show cause. A person subject to such an order must not enter or stay in the High Court or subordinate courts unless a judge gives leave for special cause.

A person who acts as a tout for an advocate or for themselves is liable to a fine of up to 1,000 shillings and imprisonment of up to 6 months.

A person must not induce or try to induce a client or prospective client to leave one advocate for another person they serve, or face a fine and up to six months’ imprisonment.

The Chief Justice or the Remuneration Committee may make orders about advocates’ remuneration, but any order must be submitted to the President for approval and, if approved, published in the Gazette.

An order under section 49 may set how advocate remuneration is calculated and may adjust the amount using listed factors.

An order made under section 49 may authorize rules about an advocate taking security from a client for payment of remuneration, and about allowing interest.

While an order under section 49 is in force, the taxation of advocates’ bills of costs is governed by that order, subject to later rules on remuneration agreements.

An advocate and client may make a written fee agreement for non-contentious business, and the agreement must be signed by the person bound by it or that person’s agent.

An advocate may make a written agreement with a client about remuneration for contentious business, even if an order under section 49 is in force.

This section limits how a costs agreement affects recovery of costs, makes negligence- waiver clauses void, and lets the High Court enforce or set aside the agreement on application.

Certain advocate fee agreements must be checked before payment, and the High Court can later reopen or adjust them in some cases.

If an advocate dies, becomes incapable of acting, or is replaced before finishing the work, affected parties may apply to the High Court, which can enforce or set aside the agreement and may send the amount due to taxation.

Costs of an advocate, where an agreement has been made, are not subject to taxation or the later provisions of this Part about signing and delivering an advocate’s bill, except as otherwise provided earlier.

This section says sections 57 to 61 do not validate certain advocate-related purchases, success-fee agreements, bankruptcy-invalid dealings, or the High Court’s power to order an advocate to deliver a bill and deeds.

The High Court’s power to order an advocate to deliver a bill of costs or hand over related deeds, documents, or papers also applies even if no business was done in the High Court.

An advocate’s costs cannot be sued for until one month after a proper bill has been delivered, unless the High Court allows an earlier action for probable cause.

A party charged with an advocate’s bill may apply within one month for taxation, and the High Court can order the bill taxed before any action continues.

Certain third parties may ask the High Court to tax an advocate’s bill, and the Court may make related orders, subject to special-circumstances limits.

Applications about taxation or delivery of an advocate’s bill must be made in that advocate’s matter, and the taxed officer’s certificate is final unless the High Court sets it aside or alters it.

A court may declare an advocate entitled to a charge over property recovered or preserved through the advocate’s work for taxed costs, and may order taxation and payment from that property.

A person duly admitted as an advocate is treated as an officer of the High Court and is subject to that court’s jurisdiction.

Certified Committee expenses are paid from the United Republic’s general revenue, unless the High Court orders payment to the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury under subsection (2).

The chairman, or another person the Committee appoints, may sign documents on behalf of the Committee.

The Registrar must keep certain fees in a separate account, pay the balance to the Law Society on specified quarterly dates, and the Law Society may use those funds for its permitted purposes.

The Committee may make regulations, but only with the approval of the Chief Justice.

This section says the Act does not override other laws about who may conduct, defend, or otherwise act in proceedings, or laws that prohibit certain people from doing so.

This provision repeals F.R.L. Cap. 10 and F.R.L. Cap. 11.