1. Short title, extent and commencement.―(1) This Act may be called the Advocates Act, 1961.
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[(2) It extends to the whole of India.]
(3) It 2
[shall, in relation to the territories other than those referred to in sub-section (4), come into force]
on such date3
as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint, and different
dates3 may be appointed for different provisions of this Act.
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[(4) This Act shall, in relation to the State of Jammu and Kashmir5
and the Union territory of Goa,
Daman and Diu, come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official
Gazette, appoint in this behalf, and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act.]
2. Definitions.―6
[(1)] In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,―
(a) “advocate” means an advocate entered in any roll under the provisions of this Act;
(b) “appointed day”, in relation to any provision of this Act, means the day on which that provision comes into
force;
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(d) “Bar Council” means a Bar Council constituted under this Act;
(e) “Bar Council of India” means the Bar Council constituted under section 4 for the territories to which this Act
extends;
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(g) “High Court”, except in sub-section (1) 3
[and sub-section (1A)] of section 34 and in sections 42 and 43, does
not include a court of the Judicial Commissioner, and, in relation to a State Bar Council, means,--
(i) in the case of a Bar Council constituted for a State or for a State and one or more Union territories, the
High Court for the State;
(ii) in the case of the Bar Council constituted for Delhi, 4
[the High Court of Delhi];
(h) “law graduate” means a person who has obtained a bachelor's degree in law from any University established
by law in India;
(i) “legal practitioner” means an advocate 5
[or vakil] of any High Court, a pleader, mukhtar or revenue agent;
(j) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(k) “roll” means a roll of advocates prepared and maintained under this Act;
(l) “State” does not include a Union territory;
(m) “State Bar Council” means a Bar Council constituted under section 3;
(n) “State roll” means a roll of advocates prepared and maintained by a State Bar Council under section 17.
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[(2) Any reference in this Act to a law which is not in force in the State of Jammu and Kashmir or in the Union
territory of Goa, Daman and Diu, shall, in relation to that State or that territory, be construed as a reference to the
corresponding law, if any, in force in that State or that territory, as the case may be.]