Complaints of professional misconduct against a member of a legal profession are to be proved to the criminal standard. Lord Tucker said: ‘With regard to the onus of proof the Court of Appeal [for East Africa] said: ‘We agree that in every allegation of professional misconduct involving an element of deceit or moral turpitude a high standard of proof is called for, and we cannot envisage any body of professional men sitting in judgment on a colleague who would be content to condemn on a mere balance of probabilities.’ This seems to their Lordships an adequate description of the duty of a tribunal such as the Advocates Committee and there is no reason to think that either the Committee or the Supreme Court applied any lower standard of proof.’
Judges:
Lord Tucker
Citations:
[1956] 1 WLR 1442
Cited by:
Approved – In Re A Solicitor QBD 13-May-1992
In disciplinary proceedings before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, allegations must be proved to the criminal standard, and certainly so where the allegations are serious and may result in suspension or disqualification. Hearsay evidence . .
Cited – Campbell v Hamlet (as executrix of Simon Alexander) PC 25-Apr-2005
(Trinidad and Tobago) The appellant was an attorney. A complaint was made that he had been given money to buy land, but neither had the land been conveyed nor the money returned. The complaint began in 1988, but final speeches were not heard until . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Commonwealth, Legal Professions
Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.226042
