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Attorneys Act, 1979 (Act No. 53 of 1979)

Chapter III : Law Societies

73. Appeal against finding of council

 

(1) A person who has been found guilty in terms of section 72 may within a period of thirty days of the date of the council's decision appeal to a competent court against that finding by lodging with the registrar of that court a notice of appeal setting out in full his grounds of appeal.

 

(2) A person who appeals in terms of subsection (1) shall when lodging such notice of appeal deposit with the registrar concerned an amount of R200 as security for the costs of the appeal and shall on the same day deliver or send to the secretary of the society concerned a copy of the notice of appeal.

 

(3) The secretary of the society concerned shall within a period of thirty days of the date upon which he received the notice of appeal referred to in subsection (1), send to the registrar referred to in that subsection in respect of the enquiry concerned—
(a) three copies of the record referred to in section 71(3);
(b) the documentary evidence admitted at the enquiry;
(c) a statement of the finding of the council which held the enquiry and the reasons for such finding;
(d) any observations which such council may wish to make.

 

(4) An appeal in terms of subsection (1) shall be prosecuted as if it were an appeal from a judgment of a magistrate's court in a civil matter, and all rules applicable to such last-mentioned appeal in respect of the hearing thereof shall mutatis mutandis apply to an appeal under this section.

 

(5) The court hearing an appeal under this section shall—
(a) confirm the finding appealed against; or
(b) set that finding, and the punishment imposed in respect thereof, aside; or
(c) confirm that finding, but set that punishment aside, and impose in its place such punishment as could have been imposed by the council concerned.

 

(6) If a person succeeds in his appeal in terms of this section, the costs of the enquiry shall not be recoverable by the council concerned, and if such costs have already been recovered by that council, such costs shall be refunded.