Official Solicitor is a term which relates to two different and relatively old offices of British government. It was an office that represented the Crown, which is an institution that stands in place of a written constitution. The monarch is the representative of the Crown as head of state and the Official Solicitor was originally the legal representative of the Church by which all law was enforced. When the laws of England became divided between the spiritual (Church of England) and the temporal (secular) Parliament, the result was a division in the office of Official Solicitor. Today both offices still exist, yet they no longer retain the powers that they once held. Crown names several entities associated with monarchy: A crown (headgear), the headgear worn by a monarch. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion... The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ... The debating chamber or hemicycle of the European Parliament in Brussels. ...

Background and history

Very little information is currently available concerning the history of the office of Official Solicitor and this is due to the fact the duties of this office have been dramatically revised within very recent years.

1870s

The present office of Official Solicitor to the Supreme Court of Judicature was created by an Order of the Lord Chancellor made on the November 6, 1875 with the approval of the Presidents of the newly constituted divisions of the High Court, and of the Treasury. This article concerns the Courts of England and Wales. ... November 6 is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 55 days remaining. ... 1875 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

1970s

In the 1970s the office of Official Solicitor (temporal) was used to break a legal stalemate between the British Trades Union Congress and the government of Prime Minister Edward Heath. At that time the Official Solicitor was able to draw upon ancient powers that nearly everyone had forgotten about, and by authority of the Office of Official Solicitor alone, cause the release from prison of strikers known as the Pentonville Seven. This action resolved a major constitutional and political crisis at the time. Events and trends Although in the United States and in many other Western societies the 1970s are often seen as a period of transition between the turbulent 1960s and the more conservative 1980s and 1990s, many of the trends that are associated widely with the Sixties, from the Sexual Revolution... Trades Union Congress headquarters at Congress House in Great Russell Street near Tottenham Court Road, Camden, London. ... A prime minister may be either: the chief or leading member of the cabinet of the top-level government in a country having a parliamentary system of government; or the official, in countries with a semi-presidential system of government, appointed to manage the civil service and execute the directives... The Right Honourable Sir Edward Richard George Heath, KG, MBE (born July 9, 1916) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. ...

The crisis took place in July 1972. That is when trades union action brought the British nation to a standstill and forced the government of the day into a corner. The crisis concerned five imprisoned shop stewards who became known as the Pentonville Five and the person who solved this crisis was the Official Solicitor. 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... The Pentonville Five were five dockers jailed in 1972. ...

The five docker shop stewards were sent to HM Prison Pentonville by the National Industrial Relations Court (NIRC) on a charge of contempt during the Conservative Party Government of Prime Minister Edward Heath. Following their arrest a rolling series of strikes began to cause work stoppages until there was virtually an unofficial national strike. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) then called for an official national strike demanding the release of the 5 shop stewards. As a result of this appeal thousands of striking workers marched through North London to Pentonville Prison. Her Majestys Prison Service is the British Executive Agency reporting to the Home Office tasked with managing many of the prisons within the United Kingdom. ... HM Prison Pentonville is a prison built in 1842 in North London. ... Conservative Party can refer to: Canada Conservative Party of Canada (since 2003) Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (1942-2003) Conservative Party of Canada (historical) (until 1942) Their respective affiliated provincial parties Chile - Conservative Party Colombia - Colombian Conservative Party Denmark - Conservative Peoples Party Honduras - National Party of Honduras Lithuania - Homeland... A prime minister may be either: the chief or leading member of the cabinet of the top-level government in a country having a parliamentary system of government; or the official, in countries with a semi-presidential system of government, appointed to manage the civil service and execute the directives... The Right Honourable Sir Edward Richard George Heath, KG, MBE (born July 9, 1916) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. ... Trades Union Congress headquarters at Congress House in Great Russell Street near Tottenham Court Road, Camden, London. ... The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster which contains Big Ben London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ...

The crisis came to a head and total disaster was averted when the previously unknown Official Solicitor went in person to the prison and on his orders had the 5 shop stewards released. The government was powerless to do this without giving up the rule of law for mob rule.

1980s

In the 1980s the office of Official Solicitor was called upon by the Secretary of State for the Department of Trade and Industry after receiving the last in a chain of delegated overtures which had originated in the United States of America. This time the issue was pirate radio broadcasting. Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a Secretary of State is a senior Cabinet Minister in charge of a Government Department. ... The Department of Trade and Industry is a United Kingdom government department. ... The term pirate radio lacks a specific universal interpretation. ...

On board a ship called Ross Revenge anchored in the North Sea were three radio stations. One of them was quite famous and known as Radio Caroline. Another station broadcast in the Dutch language to Holland and both were on different AM frequencies. A third station was also in English but it broadcast on shortwave as World Mission Radio (WMR}. Its programs consisted of sponsored religion and it claimed on air that it was a USA station with its offices based in California. Its literature claimed the same thing. The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ... Radio Caroline is a European radio station that originally commenced transmissions as an offshore radio station broadcasting from a ship anchored off the coast of South East England in international waters. ... Am is the present-tense, first-person, singular form of the verb to be, the copula of the English language. ... A Grundig Shortwave receiver Shortwave radio operates between the frequencies of 3,000 kHz and 30 MHz (30,000 kHz) and came to be referred to as such in the early days of radio because the wavelengths associated with this frequency range were shorter than those commonly in use at... State nickname: The Golden State Other U.S. States Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Official languages English Area 410,000 km² (3rd)  - Land 404,298 km²  - Water 20,047 km² (4. ...

A US citizen had claimed in a federal US court that the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), had caused his own offshore station called Radio Newyork International to be illegally raided while it was broadcasting from a ship anchored in international waters off Long Island, New York. For proof the defence team had raised the issue of the Radio Caroline ship and questioned whether the USA could regulate its signals which could be heard in the USA. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent United States government agency, created, directed, and empowered by Congressional statute. ... Radio Newyork International was the name of a pirate radio station which broadcast from a ship anchored in international waters off Jones Beach, Long Island, New York, USA in both 1987 and 1988. ... Image of Long Island taken by NASA. Long Island, part of New York State, is an island off the North American coast, some 118 miles (190 km) long, and from 12 to 20 miles (32 km) wide, extending from New York Harbor into the North Atlantic Ocean. ... State nickname: Empire State Other U.S. States Capital Albany Largest city New York Governor George Pataki Official languages None Area 141,205 km² (27th)  - Land 122,409 km²  - Water 18,795 km² (13. ... Radio Caroline is a European radio station that originally commenced transmissions as an offshore radio station broadcasting from a ship anchored off the coast of South East England in international waters. ...

An Investigator assigned to the Official Solicitor and employed by the DTI, led the British part of a joint raid with Dutch officials to cause the cessation of all transmissions from the MV Ross Revenge. Once this had been accomplished that same official then responded with sworn testimony concerning Radio Newyork International which claimed to be owned by a British company and registered in an independent sovereign state called Sealand. Radio Newyork International was the name of a pirate radio station which broadcast from a ship anchored in international waters off Jones Beach, Long Island, New York, USA in both 1987 and 1988. ... National motto: E mare libertas (Latin: From the sea, freedom) Official language English Sovereigns Prince and Princess Roy Bates and Joan Bates Head of Government Prince Regent Michael Bates Area  550 m² Population  1 (Michael Bates; 2002) Establishment  – Declared  – Recognition  2 September 1967  none Currency Sealand dollar pegged to USD...

The Investigator (James Murphy), then informed the US court that Sealand was a former British World War II sea fort that was within British territorial waters which was not a state, but a place occupied by squatters who had no legal power to register ships. The US courts accepted this information and used it against the defendant. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

1990s

The extra-ordinary powers that had been held by the Official Solicitor have been stripped away. In the 1990s the powers of the Official Solicitor (temporal) were further limited and the duties of the Official Solicitor redirected to become mainly a legal defender of the rights of children. Events and trends Technology The World Wide Web was born at CERN Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other technology Reduction in size and cost of mobile phones leads to a massive surge in their popularity Year 2000 problem (commonly known as Y2K) Microsoft...

References

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ...

External sources

Official Solicitor and Public Trustee (http://www.offsol.demon.co.uk/)

The Current Role of the Official Solicitor (http://www.dca.gov.uk/family/jonesfr.htm)