Legal Aid for Contempt of Court – Determination

LEGAL AID (SCOTLAND) ACT 1986

DETERMINATION BY SECRETARY OF STATE

  1. The Secretary of State in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 4(2)(c) of the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 (“the 1986 Act”) with the concurrence of the Treasury, hereby determines as follows.
  2. There shall be paid out of the Scottish Legal Aid Fund such sums as are allowed on the basis set out in paragraph 4 below in any case where –

(a) a person successfully appeals against a decision of a Court in proceedings for contempt of court;

(b) an application by that person for legal aid for the appeal was refused on the grounds that the Scottish Legal Aid Board (“the Board”) was not satisfied that there were substantial grounds for making the appeal or that it was reasonable in the particular circumstances of the case that legal aid should be made available or, as the case may be, that the Board was not satisfied that in all the circumstances of the case it was in the interests of justice that the applicant should receive legal aid;  and

(c) the Board is satisfied as to the factors mentioned in paragraph 3 below.

  1. The factors as to which the Board is to be satisfied are –

(a) where legal aid was not made available under section 30 of the 1986 Act in connection with the proceedings in respect of which the appeal was made and after consideration of the financial circumstances of the applicant at the time of the initial application for criminal legal aid in connection with the appeal, that the expenses of the appeal could not have been met without undue hardship to the applicant or his dependants;  and

(b) that it is reasonable, in the particular circumstances of the case, that payment should be made.

  1. The sum payable out of the Scottish Legal Aid Fund in respect of any such case as is mentioned in paragraph 2 above shall be such sum as would have been allowed of solicitors and counsel had legal aid been made available under section 30 of the 1986 Act.
  2. This determination shall apply only in relation to any case where the successful appeal was determined on or after 5th June 1996.

 

Micheline H Brannan

Assistant Secretary

Scottish Home Department

St Andrew’s House

EDINBURGH      EH1 3DE

5th June 1996