Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Regulations, 1965

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 12/1965

S.I. No. 12 of 1965.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE (LEGAL AID) REGULATIONS, 1965

I, BRIAN LENIHAN, Minister for Justice, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 10 of the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act, 1962 (No. 12 of 1962), and in so far as these regulations are in relation to rates or scales of payment of fees, costs or expenses payable out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas pursuant to certificates for free legal aid with the consent of the Minister for Finance, hereby make the following regulations: 1. These Regulations may be cited as the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Regulations, 1965. 2.—(1) These Regulations shall not apply in relation to proceedings initiated before the commencement of the Act.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1) of this Regulation, proceedings shall be regarded as being initiated against a person on the day on which a summons in respect of the complaint against the person to which the proceedings relate is issued or, if a summons is. not issued, on the day on which the person is charged with the offence to which the proceedings relate. 3. In these Regulations—

"the Act" means the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act, 1962 (No. 12 of 1962);

"the Minister" means the Minister for Justice. 4.—(1) As soon as may be after the making of these Regulations, each county registrar shall compile a list of the solicitors practising in the county, or the county and county borough, as the case may be, of which he is county registrar who have notified him of their willingness to act for persons to whom certificates for free legal aid are granted and shall send a copy of the list to—

(a) the registrar of the Supreme Court,

(b) the registrar of the Court of Criminal Appeal,

(c) the registrar of the High Court managing the Central Office of the High Court,

(d) the registrar of the Central Criminal Court,

(e) the District Court clerk for each district court area (or part of an area) for cases of summary jurisdiction in the county, or county and county borough, as the case may be aforesaid, and

(f) the Secretary of the Incorporated Law Society.

(2) Where, at any time after the compilation of a list in pursuance of this Regulation—

(a) a county registrar for the county, or the county and county borough, as the case may be, to which the list relates is notified by a solicitor practising in the county, or the county and county borough, as the case may be, of his willingness to act for the persons to whom certificates for free legal aid are granted or of his wish to have his name deleted from the list,

(b) an order is made removing from or striking off the roll maintained under section 9 of the Solicitors' Act, 1954 (No. 36 of 1954), the name of a solicitor whose name is on the list kept in pursuance of this Regulation or restoring to such roll the name of a solicitor whose name was on such list, or suspending from practice a solicitor whose name is on such list, or

(c) the period of suspension from practice of a solicitor whose name was on the list kept in pursuance of this Regulation at the time of the commencement of the suspension has ended,

the county registrar aforesaid shall amend accordingly the list kept in pursuance of this Regulation by adding thereto or deleting therefrom, as the case may be, the name of the solicitor and shall notify the persons mentioned in paragraph (1) of this Regulation of the amendment.

(3) A solicitor who is willing to act for persons to whom certificates for free legal aid are granted and who wishes to have his name included in a list or lists kept pursuant to this Regulation and a solicitor who wishes to have his name deleted from such list or lists shall notify in writing the appropriate county registrar or county registrars and, upon making the amendment referred to in paragraph (2) of this Regulation in the list kept by him, the county registrar, or each county registrar, concerned shall notify the solicitor of the amendment.

(4) A list kept by a county registrar pursuant to this Regulation shall be the list of solicitors for the Circuit Court sitting in the county, or county and county borough, as the case may be, of which he is county registrar, and the copies of the lists received by the court officers specified in subparagraph (1) of this Regulation shall be the lists of solicitors for the respective courts of which they are officers. 5.—(1) As soon as may be after the making of these Regulations, the Council shall send to the Minister the names of the counsel who have notified it of their willingness to act for persons to whom certificates for free legal aid are granted.

(2) The Minister shall keep a list of the names aforesaid and shall send a copy of the list to—

(a) the registrar of the Supreme Court,

(b) the registrar of the Court of Criminal Appeal,

(c) the registrar of the High Court managing the Central Office of the High Court,

(d) the registrar of the Central Criminal Court,

(e) each county registrar, and

(f) each District Court clerk.

(3) Where, at any time after the compilation of a list in pursuance of this Regulation, the Council is notified by a counsel of his willingness to act for persons granted certificates for free legal aid or of his wish to have his name deleted from the list, the Council shall notify the Minister of such wish and the Minister shall amend accordingly the list kept by him pursuant to this Regulation by adding thereto or deleting therefrom, as the case may be, the name of the counsel and the Minister shall notify the officers mentioned in paragraph (2) of this Regulation of the amendment.

(4) A counsel who is willing to act for persons granted certificates for free legal aid and who wishes to have his name included in the list kept by the Minister pursuant to this Regulation and a counsel who wishes to have his name deleted from such list shall notify the Council in writing and upon receipt of the notification the Council shall notify the Minister and the Minister shall amend accordingly the list kept by him pursuant to this Regulation and shall notify the counsel of the amendment.

(5) In this Regulation "the Council" means the General Council of the Bar of Ireland. 6.—(1) The registrar of the Supreme Court, the registrar of the Court of Criminal Appeal, the registrar of the High Court managing the Central Office of the High Court, the registrar of the Central Criminal Court, each county registrar and each District Court clerk shall keep a register of all cases in which application is made to the court of which he is an officer for a certificate for free legal aid and shall record therein in respect of each case—

(a) the date of the application;

(b) the name of the applicant;

(c) in general terms, the charge or charges involved and the nature of the proceedings;

(d) the result of the application, and

(e) if the application is granted, the names of the solicitor and of the counsel (if any) assigned.

(2) Each officer specified in paragraph (1) of this Regulation shall send to the Department of Justice, at such times as the Minister may from time to time direct, a copy of the entries in the register kept by him pursuant to the provisions of that paragraph. 7.—(1) Upon the grant of a certificate for free legal aid, the court granting the certificate shall, having taken into consideration the representations (if any) of the person to whom the certificate was granted, assign to him a solicitor from the appropriate list kept pursuant to Regulation 4 of these Regulations to act for him in the preparation and conduct of his case.

(2) The court granting a certificate (other than a legal aid (District Court) certificate) for free legal aid may, if the person to whom it is granted is charged with murder or the case concerning him appears to present exceptional difficulty and is not an appeal to the Circuit Court and the court is of opinion that the defence or appeal, as the case may be, cannot be conducted adequately without the assistance of two counsel, direct that two counsel be assigned to the person to act for him in the preparation and conduct of his case.

(3) Where a certificate for free legal aid is granted to a person and the certificate entitles the person to have counsel assigned to him—

(a) in case the certificate includes a direction under paragraph (2) of this Regulation, any two counsel whose names are included in the list kept by the Minister pursuant to Regulation 5 of these Regulations, and

(b) in any other case, any one counsel whose name is included in such list,

may be retained on behalf of the person by the solicitor who has been assigned pursuant to the certificate to act for the person in the preparation and conduct of his case and, upon such retention, the counsel shall be deemed to have been assigned to the person pursuant to the certificate to act for the person in the preparation and conduct of his case.

(4) Where two or more certificates for free legal aid are granted to a person and the cases in relation to which they are granted are heard together or in immediate succession, one certificate only shall (unless the Court, being satisfied that there is good reason for so doing, otherwise directs) be deemed, for the purposes of these Regulations, to have been granted to the person. 8.—(1) Where a certificate for free legal aid is granted by any court in respect of free legal aid in another court, a copy of the certificate shall be sent by the court officer concerned to the registrar of the other court.

(2) Where an application by a person under subsection (2) of section 4, 5 or 6 of the Act for a certificate for free legal aid is refused, the registrar of the court to which the person may then apply for a certificate shall be notified of such refusal by the court officer concerned. 9.—(1) A certificate for free legal aid shall be in such one of the forms set out in the First Schedule to these Regulations as...