Advocate, Lawyer, Legal Practitioner and Pleader: The Words the Act Defines

This is a definition that preserves history. It names five categories, of which only the first is live. It exists so that where another statute uses the phrase "legal practitioner", the Advocates Act supplies a meaning that covers people admitted under the older laws as well as advocates.

Note the difference in shape between this definition and section 2(1)(a). "Advocate" is defined by a register. "Legal practitioner" is defined by a list of categories. That is what tells you the second is the older idea.

Pleader, mukhtar, vakil and revenue agent

These four are the categories the Act absorbed, and a student should be able to say what each was.

A vakil was a legal practitioner admitted to practise in a High Court, under the older provincial statutes, typically holding an Indian law degree. The word is Persian in origin and means a representative or agent.

A pleader was a legal practitioner entitled to plead, that is to argue, in the subordinate courts, admitted under the Legal Practitioners Act 1879. Pleaders were graded, and their right of audience was limited by grade and by court.

A mukhtar was a practitioner entitled to act in the subordinate criminal courts, that is to do the procedural steps, without the same right to plead. The distinction between acting and pleading is worth learning here because it recurs: acting means filing, taking steps and conducting the case on the record; pleading means addressing the court.

A revenue agent was a person entitled to appear before revenue authorities in revenue matters, again under the older law.

None of these can be created any more. Sections 24(2) and 24(3) let those who were already vakils, pleaders and mukhtars in 1961 come across onto a State roll as advocates. Nobody has been admitted as a pleader or mukhtar since, and the words survive in section 2(1)(i), in section 58B(3), and in other statutes that were never re-drafted.

Roll

Section 2(1)(k): "roll" means a roll of advocates prepared and maintained under this Act.

Short, but the key that turns all the others. Chapter [The Procedure of Enrolment: Application, Disposal, Certificate and the Roll] deals with how a name gets on it and how it is arranged.

Distinctions

A worked example

Four people are in a courtroom in Mumbai.

Aarti is enrolled with the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa and appears for the plaintiff. She is an advocate within section 2(1)(a) and a legal practitioner within section 2(1)(i), and she is entitled to practise under sections 29, 30 and 33.

Bhavesh teaches jurisprudence at a law college and is watching. He is a lawyer in ordinary speech and neither an advocate nor a legal practitioner, because his name is on no roll. If he were to argue the case he would be practising without entitlement and would be liable under section 45.

Chandan is the in-house legal manager of the defendant company. He drafted the reply and instructed counsel. He is not on a roll. He may advise his employer, but he cannot appear, and rule 49 of the Bar Council of India Rules is what would stop him being on a roll and salaried at the same time; that is rules 47 to 52 on other employment, which Module II takes up.

Dinesh was enrolled as a pleader in 1958 and came across onto the State roll under section 24(3) in 1962. He is today simply an advocate. He is not a pleader with special rights and not a lesser class of practitioner. That is exactly what the Act was passed to achieve.

Change one fact. Suppose Bhavesh is asked by the judge to assist the court on a point of law and the court permits him to address it. Section 32 allows a court to permit any person, not enrolled as an advocate, to appear in a particular case. He is still not an advocate; he has a permission for that case only.

What it does NOT mean

"Advocate" does not mean a good or senior lawyer. It is a formal status conferred by entry on a roll.

"Legal practitioner" is not a wider live category than advocate. Four of its five limbs are closed.

"Lawyer" is not a rank below advocate. It is not a legal term at all.

The abolition of the older categories did not disqualify the people in them. Sections 24(2) and 24(3) carried them across, which is why chapter [Salient Features of the Advocates Act 1961: The Act as a Whole] treats Chapter VII of the Act as a real part of the scheme rather than as dead wood.

Quick revision

• Section 2(1)(a): advocate means an advocate entered in any roll under the Act.
• Section 2(1)(i): legal practitioner means an advocate or vakil of any High Court, a pleader, mukhtar or revenue agent.
• Section 2(1)(k): roll means a roll of advocates prepared and maintained under the Act.
• Section 29: advocates are the only recognised class entitled to practise law. Section 33: nobody may practise unless enrolled. Section 45: practising without entitlement, imprisonment up to six months.
• Lawyer is not defined in the Act and is not a legal category.
• Vakil: practised in a High Court. Pleader: pleaded in subordinate courts under the Legal Practitioners Act 1879. Mukhtar: acted in subordinate criminal courts. Revenue agent: appeared before revenue authorities. All four are closed categories.
• Acting means conducting the case on the record; pleading means arguing it.
• Section 32 lets a court permit a non-advocate to appear in a particular case.

Test yourself

1. Define "advocate" and say what the definition turns on. Section 2(1)(a): an advocate is an advocate entered in any roll under the provisions of the Act. It turns entirely on entry on the roll, not on qualification, ability or experience.

2. Is "lawyer" defined in the Advocates Act? No. It is an ordinary English word and not a legal category. It covers advocates but also law teachers, in-house counsel and others who are not on any roll.

3. Distinguish a vakil from a mukhtar. A vakil was a legal practitioner entitled to practise in a High Court under the older provincial statutes. A mukhtar was entitled to act, that is to take the procedural steps, in the subordinate criminal courts, without the same right to plead.

4. Can a person be admitted as a pleader today? No. The Advocates Act created one class of practitioner, the advocate. Sections 24(2) and 24(3) let existing vakils, pleaders and mukhtars be admitted as advocates; no new admission to those categories is possible.

5. Which sections close the profession, and what is the penalty for practising outside it? Section 29 makes advocates the only recognised class entitled to practise, and section 33 provides that no person shall be entitled to practise unless enrolled. Section 45 punishes a person who practises when not entitled with imprisonment which may extend to six months.

6. A retired professor of law wishes to argue a single matter in which he has a special interest. Is there any route? Yes, section 32, under which a court, authority or person may permit any person not enrolled as an advocate to appear in a particular case. It is a permission for that case only and does not make him an advocate.