Report of the Legal Committee on Medical Partnerships.

  • Great Britain. Legal Committee on Medical Partnerships.
Date:
[1948]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Legal Committee on Medical Partnerships. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    (k) “ Terminal transfer” means the transfer by an outgoing partner or personal representative of a deceased partner of the whole or any part of that partner’s share of the goodwill of an existing partnership to any other partner or partners; () “The compensation fund” means the aggregate amount of com- pensation provided under section 36 of the Act for medical practitioners in England and Wales; and ae (m) “The proposed supplementary compensation fund” means moneys additional to the compensation fund which in accordance with principle (5) of our terms of reference we recommend should be made available by Parliament. 7. For easy reference by those reading this report we have included in Appendix III the main provisions of Sections 34-36 of the Act relevant’ to our Inquiry, and in Appendix IV the provisions of the Compensation Regula- tions to which we refer hereafter. RECOMMENDATIONS PARTNERSHIPS GENERALLY 8. As there is room for difference of opinion as to the effect of sections 35 to 37 of the Act upon obligations and options contained in existing partner- ship agreements, it should be made clear that nothing in these sections is to render unlawful the due fulfilment of such obligations or the due exercise of such options. At the same time we are of opinion that certain modifica- tions of these obligations and options are necessary to secure an equitable result in the case of existing partnership agreements which do not themselves make express provision for the manner in which statutory compensation is to be dealt with among the partners. 9. We therefore recommend : — that it should be declared that nothing in sections 35 to 37 of the Act shall be deemed to render unlawful the due fulfilment of obliga- tions or due exercise of options in existing partnership agreements; but, further, that, in the case of agreements which do not make express provision for the manner in which statutory compensation is to be dealt with among the partners, such obligations and options shall be modified as hereinafter provided. Apportionment of Compensation Between Partners Entered on a Medical List 10. The Compensation Regulations provide for ascertaining the annual value of the goodwill of each practitioner in respect of whom a claim for compensation is made (such annual value being therein referred to as “ the annual loss”), and for distributing the aggregate amount of compensation amongst persons deemed to have suffered loss proportionately to the amount of their “annual loss”. (Regulations 7 and 12.) Special provision is made for calculating the “annual loss” of a practitioner engaged in partnership practice on the appointed day (cf. particularly Regulation 7 (2) (b)). But Regulation 4 provides that the succeeding regulations shall be subject, so far as they affect practitioners practising in partnership, to any provisions 5 62972 : A 3%