Judgment :- 1. This is an appeal from the order of the District Judge of Ernakulam rejecting the claim for preferential treatment made in Claim No. 58 of 1959 in Company M.P. No.2 of 1957. The claimant is an Advocate of this Court. He conducted some cases on behalf of the Company in liquidation prior to the initiation of the liquidation proceedings. Amounts have been realised in pursuance of the decrees he obtained for the company and are now in the hands of the Official Liquidator, the respondent before us. 2. The contention of the Advocate, which has been negatived, is that he has a lien on those amounts for his fees and expenses. Raman Nayar, J, in his order referring the appeal to a Division Bench for decision said that the question raised - "Whether a lien is available to an advocate against the fruits of a decree obtained by him for the fees and other expenses due to him" - is a question of general importance, both to the public and to the legal profession. We have had the advantage of hearing not only counsel for the parties but also Mr. V.P. Gopalan Nambiar on behalf of the Advocate General and Mr. C.J. Antony on behalf of the Bar Council. 3. In 44 L.J.C.P. 278 Brett, J., said that "where an attorney is the meritorious cause of the recovery of property, his lien is to be preferred before other claims; his equitable right is recognised in all the courts". And in AIR. 1920 Calcutta 122 Rankin, J., observed: "The lien of an attorney for his costs upon property recovered or preserved is not only one of the oldest doctrines of law, but one which is based on very manifest justice." 4. The English attorneys at law were public officers belonging to the superior courts of common law at Westminster. They conducted legal business on behalf of others. The Judicature Act of 1873 abolished the expression "attorney" and substituted the title "Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Judicature." 5. In 56 L. J. Ch. The English attorneys at law were public officers belonging to the superior courts of common law at Westminster. They conducted legal business on behalf of others. The Judicature Act of 1873 abolished the expression "attorney" and substituted the title "Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Judicature." 5. In 56 L. J. Ch. 670 Lord Justice Cotton said that "the lien of a solicitor is grounded on the principle that it is not just that the client should get the benefit of the solicitor's labour without paying for it," and Lord Justice Lindley that "it is right that they who get the benefit of the recovery of the money should bear the expense of recovering it." In 81 L J. Ch. 82 Swinfen Eady, J., quoted these passages with approval and pointed out that the lien prevails in spite of the bankruptcy of the client, whether the client be an individual or a company. 6. According to Halsbury - first edition, Vol. 26, page 814 - a solicitor is entitled to three kinds of lien: a passive or retaining lien; a common law lien on property recovered or preserved by his efforts; and a statutory lien enforceable by a charging order. It is the second of the three types of lien that is claimed in this case. 7. In AIR. 1921 Madras 320 Wallis, C.J. said: "In this Court vakils are allowed to act as well as plead on the Original Side, and as regards acting, are very much in the same position as solicitors in England." "They can insist on payment of their fees in advance or rely on their lien on the client's papers and on the fruits of the litigation as well as on their right to sue for their fees." 8. Advocates of this Court are allowed not only to plead but to act as well, and we see no reason why the common law lien of England in favour of solicitors should not be considered as available to advocates in this country on grounds of justice, equity and good conscience. The lawyers' profession is not a profession that is indigenous; its roots lie deep in the soil of England; its traditions and training derive from that country. There is no need to stop short at the privileges that have been evolved by the genius of the common law. 9. The lawyers' profession is not a profession that is indigenous; its roots lie deep in the soil of England; its traditions and training derive from that country. There is no need to stop short at the privileges that have been evolved by the genius of the common law. 9. The character and extent of the lien - a lien which did not attach to real property - is summed up as follows in the second edition of Halsbury, Vol. 31, page 248: "This lien is a particular lien; it is not, therefore, available for the general balance of account between the solicitor and the client, but extends only to the costs of the proceedings in which the property is recovered, including the costs of protecting the solicitor's right to such costs, of establishing the solicitor's retainer if it is disputed, and of matters incidental to the recovery." The lien available to the advocates in this country should be the same, that is, the solicitor's lien as it existed in England prior to the passing of the Solicitor's Act of 1860. 10. Many decisions were cited before us; but we consider it unnecessary to deal with them. We need only say that we are in agreement with the view expressed in AIR. 1921 Madras 320, that we are not in agreement with the view expressed in AIR. 1955 Orissa 102, and that a full discussion of the earlier cases is available in AIR. 1927 Bombay 542. 11. In the light of what is stated above the order of the court below has to be set aside, the appeal allowed, and the claim directed to be investigated and met on the basis that the claimant has a lien for his costs on the fruits of the litigation which he prosecuted to a successful conclusion. We decide accordingly.