Section 2: Interpretation

2. Interpretation In this Act— “accredited person” means the University of Mauritius or a person who is the holder of an authorisation granted under section 12A (3); “applicant” means a person who has applied, or intends to apply, to be admitted as a law practitioner; “Board” means the Judicial and Legal Studies Board referred to in section 7 of the Institute for Judicial and Legal Studies Act; “Chairperson” means the Chairperson of the Council; “Continuing Professional Development Programme” means a Programme devised, organised and conducted under section 9B; “Council” means the Council for Vocational Legal Education established under section 11; “director”, in relation to a law firm or foreign law firm or joint law venture— (a) in the case of a company, has the meaning assigned to it in the Companies Act; (b) in any other case, means any person, whether acting individually or collectively, having responsibility for managing the day-to-day affairs of a body; “foreign law” means the law of a jurisdiction other than that of Mauritius; “foreign law firm” means a corporate entity licensed or registered as a law firm in a foreign country and having a local office registered in accordance with section 10G; “foreign lawyer” means an individual who is admitted to practise law in a foreign country and is registered in accordance with section 10L; “Global Legal Advisory Services” means the activity referred to under section 77A (1) of the Financial Services Act; “Global Legal Advisory Services licence” means a Global Legal Advisory Services licence issued under the Financial Services Act; “Institute” means the Institute for Judicial and Legal Studies established under the Institute for Judicial and Legal Studies Act; “international law”— (a) includes law established by an international treaty or an international convention, or international customary law; but (b) does not include laws of Mauritius, or the domestic law of any other country; “joint law venture” means a joint law venture referred to in section 10H; [Issue 9] L8 – 2 Revised Laws of Mauritius “law degree” means a degree in law awarded, following a course of studies for such period and at such level as may be prescribed under section 22 (1) (c), by— (a) the University of Mauritius; (b) a university in the United Kingdom; or (c) such university or other tertiary education institution in Mauritius, the United States, another Commonwealth country or a civil law State, as may be approved by the Council; “law firm” means a body of persons providing legal services, whether incorporated as a company, registered as a limited liability partnership, or set up as a société, registered under section 10A; “law officer” has the same meaning as in the Law Officers Act; “law practitioner” means a barrister, an attorney or a notary whose name has been entered on, and not been erased from, the Roll; “legal consultant” means— (a) a person who has retired from office as a Judge; or (b) a person authorised to act as such by the Chief Justice where his name has, at his request, been erased from the Roll after he has, for not less than 10 years in the aggregate— (i) been a barrister, an attorney, a law officer or a Magistrate; or (ii) held a combination of 2 or more professions or occupations set out in subparagraph (i); “legal officer” means an officer who holds an office specified in the First Schedule and includes the Chief Legal Secretary, the Legal Secretary and the Assistant Legal Secretary; “Legal Se s such by the Chief Justice where his name has, at his request, been erased from the Roll after he has, for not less than 10 years in the aggregate— (i) been a barrister, an attorney, a law officer or a Magistrate; or (ii) held a combination of 2 or more professions or occupations set out in subparagraph (i); “legal officer” means an officer who holds an office specified in the First Schedule and includes the Chief Legal Secretary, the Legal Secretary and the Assistant Legal Secretary; “Legal Secretary” means the holder of the public office of Chief Legal Secretary, Legal Secretary or Assistant Legal Secretary at the AttorneyGeneral’s Office; “legal services” means— (a) in relation to a law firm or joint law venture, any services which a law practitioner may lawfully provide under this Act; and (b) in relation to a foreign law firm, services relating to foreign law or international law; “local office” means an office set up in Mauritius by a foreign law firm as a branch of its main office and registered in accordance with section 10G; “limited liability partnership” has the same meaning as in the Limited Liability Partnerships Act; “member” means a member of the Council and includes the Chairperson; L8 – 3 [Issue 9] Law Practitioners Act “professional qualification” means an attestation, in such form as the Council may approve, to the effect that a person who holds a law degree has a qualification as, or equivalent to that of, barrister entitling him to practise in England and Wales, Australia, New Zealand, Canada or France; “pupil master” means a person designated as such by the Council under section 5A (2); “Register” means a register kept by the Legal Secretary for the purposes of sections 10B, 10G, 10I and 10L; “Registrar” means the Master and Registrar; “Roll” means the roll kept under section 10; “Secretary” means the person appointed as such under section 11A; “signing practitioner” means a law practitioner authorised in writing by a law firm to sign on its behalf; “vocational course” means the course referred to in section 4 (2) (a) (iii) (B) and enabling a person to qualify as a law practitioner; “Vocational Examinations Board” means the Board set up under section 11B. [S. 2 amended by Act 29 of 1992; s. 3 of Act 8 of 2008 w.e.f. 15 December 2008; s. 3 of Act 30 of 2011 w.e.f. 3 September 2012; s. 31 (a) of Act 18 of 2016 w.e.f. 7 September 2016; s. 69 (4) of Act 24 of 2016 w.e.f. 3 January 2017.]