Church of England (Legal Aid) Rules 1988
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
1988 No. 1175
ECCLESIASTICAL LAW, ENGLAND
Church of England (Legal Aid) Rules 1988
Made (Approved by the General Synod) 6th July 1988
Laid before Parliament 8th July 1988
Coming into Operation 1st August 1988
In exercise of the powers conferred on it by sections 3(3) and 4 of the Church of England (Legal Aid and Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure 19881the Standing Committee of the General Synod of the Church of England hereby makes the following Rules:
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Citation and commencement
1. These Rules may be cited as the Church of England (Legal Aid) Rules 1988 and shall come into force on the first day of August 1988.
Revocation
2. The Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction (Legal Aid) Rules 1964 made under section 59 of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 19632and the Vacation of Benefices (Legal Aid) Rules 19783are hereby revoked.
Interpretation
3.—(1) In these Rules—
“applicant” means an applicant for legal aid;
“assisted person” means a person in respect of whom a certificate is in force and—
(a) for the purposes of rules 22 to 26 in their application to costs incurred before notice of the discharge of a certificate is received by the solicitor, includes the person in respect of whom that certificate was issued, and
(b) for the purposes of rules 23 to 26 in their application to costs incurred before notice of the revocation of a certificate is received by the solicitor, includes the person in respect of whom that certificate was issued.
“certificate”, except in rule 10, means a certificate issued by the Commission;
“the Commission” means the Legal Aid Commission appointed in accordance with section 1(2) of the Measure;
“costs” includes fees, charges, disbursements, expenses and remuneration;
“the Fund” means the Legal Aid Fund maintained by the General Synod in accordance with section 1(1) of the Measure;
“legal aid” has the meaning assigned to it by section 2(2) of the Measure;
“the Measure” means the Church of England (Legal Aid and Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure 1988;
“the secretary” means the secretary to the Commission;
“tribunal” means any court, commission, committee, archbishop, bishop, examiner or other tribunal or body in or before whom or which any proceedings mentioned in the first column of Schedule 1 to the Measure (as amended by rule 4) have been or are proposed to be taken.
(2) The Interpretation Measure 19254and the Interpretation Act 19785shall apply for the interpretation of these Rules as they apply for the interpretation of Measures passed by the General Synod.
PART II
ADDITIONAL PROCEEDINGS FOR WHICH LEGAL AID MAY BE GRANTED
Appeals against revocation of licences
4. In Schedule 1 to the Measure there shall be added at the end the following entry—
“The appellant.Proceedings on an appeal under section 7 of this Measure against revocation of a licence granted to a minister, deaconess, lay worker or stipendiary reader.”
PART III
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Meetings of Commission
5. The quorum for meetings of the Commission shall be five members, except that in the case of a meeting held for the purposes of the taxation or assessment of costs under Part VII the quorum shall be three.
Services of notices etc.
6.—(1) Any notice required to be served on or sent to any person under these Rules shall be served or sent either—
(a)
(a) by delivering it to him; or
(b)
(b) by sending it by post to his last known address,
and any other document required by these Rules to be sent to any person shall be sent by post to his last known address.
(2) Any application or other document required by these Rules to be lodged with the secretary shall be so lodged at the office of the Secretary-General of the General Synod.
Notification of issue, amendment, discharge or revocation of certificate
7. Where any certificate or any notice of the amendment, discharge or revocation of a certificate is sent to any solicitor in accordance with rule 12, 14 or 15 the solicitor shall—
(a) send a copy of the certificate or notice to any other party to the proceedings or his solicitor and to any other person who subsequently becomes a party to the proceedings or his solicitor; and
(b) lodge a copy of the certificate or notice with the registrar of the tribunal before which the proceedings to which the certificate relates have been or are proposed to be taken (or, if there is no such registrar, with the tribunal).
PART IV
APPLICATIONS FOR LEGAL AID AND ISSUE OF CERTIFICATES
Applications for legal aid
8.—(1) An application for legal aid—
(a)
(a) shall be made in writing on a form approved by the Commission or in such other manner, being in writing, as the secretary may accept as sufficient in the circumstances of the case; and
(b)
(b) shall be lodged with the secretary.
(2) Every application for legal aid shall state the name and address of the solicitor selected by the applicant to act for him in the proceedings concerned, and shall also contain such information and be accompanied by such documents as may be requisite to enable the Commission to determine—
(a)
(a) the nature of the proceedings to which the application relates,
(b)
(b) whether the applicant could afford to proceed without legal aid; and
(c)
(c) (except in the case of an application mentioned in rule 11(2)) whether the applicant has reasonable grounds for taking or defending or being a party to the proceedings.
(3) Any application for legal aid shall contain an undertaking made by the applicant that he will comply with the provisions of the Measure which relate to legal aid and with these Rules, and any such undertaking shall be made on a form approved by the Commission, or in such other manner, being in writing, as the secretary may accept as sufficient in the circumstances of the case.
Provision of additional information
9. An applicant shall, if required by the secretary or the Commission to do so for the purpose of providing additional information—
(a) attend for interview by the secretary or the Commission;
(b) supply such further documents or other information as the secretary or the Commission may require.
Interim certificates
10.—(1) The Commission may authorise the secretary to grant an interim certificate for legal aid in any case in which the secretary on receiving an application under rule 8 considers that it is in the interests of justice that the applicant should be granted legal aid in respect of the whole or part of costs to be incurred during the period between the issue of the certificate by the secretary and the determination of the application by the Commission.
(2) An interim certificate may be issued only in respect of costs incurred in connection with proceedings not actually begun and only for an amount not exceeding such sum as the Commission may from time to time authorise.
Determination of applications for legal aid
11.—(1) Without prejudice to section 2(4) of the Measure (which provides that an applicant shall not be given legal aid if it appears to the Commission that he could afford to proceed without it) and section 2(5) of the Measure (which provides that in cases to which that subsection applies an applicant shall not be given legal aid unless he shows that he has reasonable grounds for taking or defending the proceedings or being a party thereto), the Commission in considering whether and to what extent to grant legal aid on an application made in accordance with these rules shall have regard to all the circumstances of the case.
(2) The provisions of section 2(5) of the Measure shall not apply in relation to an application for legal aid if the applicant is an accused person in proceedings for an offence under the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963.
(3) Where the Commission consider that legal aid should be granted in respect of some but not all the costs incurred by the applicant, (being costs incurred in or in relation to or directly or indirectly arising out of the proceedings concerned), the Commission may issue a certificate for—
(a)
(a) the payment of a contribution towards those costs of an amount specified in the certificate, or
(b)
(b) the payment of those costs subject to a contribution from the applicant of an amount so specified, or
(c)
(c) the payment of such proportion of those costs as may be so specified, or
(d)
(d) the payment of the costs of, or a specified proportion of the costs of, such part of the proceedings as may be so specified, whether by reference to issues in or stages of those proceedings.
(4) Where on any application the Commission consider that legal aid should not be granted, the Commission before making a final decision shall afford the applicant an opportunity of making representations, whether in writing or orally and whether in person or by his solicitor or counsel with respect to the application.
(5) The secretary shall notify the applicant and his solicitor in writing of the Commission’s decision on his application for legal aid, but neither the applicant or his solicitor shall be entitled to any information as to the grounds for the decision.
(6) The decision of the Commission on any application shall be final.
(7) Where an application for legal aid is refused, no further application for legal aid may be made by the same applicant in relation to the same proceedings unless it contains or is accompanied by further information showing a material change of circumstances.
Issue and contents of certificates
12.—(1)...
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