Quarter Sessions
| DOI | 10.1177/002201836202600402 |
| Published date | 01 October 1962 |
| Date | 01 October 1962 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Quarter Sessions
LEGAL AID
IN
CRIMINAL CASES
A
RECENT
case at the County of London Quarter Sessions
has highlighted
the
social and public aspects of legal aid
in criminal cases.
Under
the provisions of
the
Poor Prisoners
Defence Act 1930 and the Legal Aid and Advice Act 1949 it is
required
that
the
applicant should be a person who might
properly be aided financially in his defence.
In
the
conduct of
civil litigation, civil aid is available only to parties whose means
are not greater
than
those specified in the Act of 1949 and
the
National Assistance Board makes very full enquiries into an
applicant's circumstances before a Civil Aid Certificate is
granted.
In
criminal cases, an applicant for a Legal Aid
Certificate or a Defence Certificate is required to complete a
statement of means and no further enquiry is usually made.
This
statement is
not
as comprehensive as that in civil cases
and there is no provision for contribution.
If
an application
for legal aid is made at
the
Court of trial at Quarter Sessions
or Assizes, pressure of time may reduce the means enquiry to
aformality and the application may be dealt with on
the
basis
of merit
upon
the facts of
the
case and whether any legal
defence or arguable point of law is disclosed.
The
result may
be
that
in some cases a defendant on a criminal charge may be
granted free legal assistance from public funds although he has
resources available for his defence.
In
the
case concerned, adefendant charged with receiving
parts of a stolen motor-car was granted aDefence Certificate
on committal and, at
the
trial, facts emerged which disclosed
that
the
defendant had a joint banking account with his mother
which had a balance of over £2,500.
He
himself had arunning
bank account which showed a balance, shortly before
the
trial,
of £300 which
the
defendant had withdrawn to finance certain
alterations to a Jaguar car which he owned.
The
Deputy Chairman,
Mr.
O. S. MacLeay, at
the
264
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