Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986

Part I Scottish Legal Aid Board

1 The Scottish Legal Aid Board.

2 Powers of the Board.

3 Duties of the Board.

4 Scottish Legal Aid Fund.

4APower of Board to make grants for certain purposes

5 Accounts and audit.

Part II Advice and Assistance

7 Application of Part II.

8 Availability of advice & assistance.

8ACriminal advice and assistance: automatic availability in certain circumstances

9 Regulations may apply Part II to representation.

10 Financial limit.

11 Clients’ contributions.

12 Payment of fees or outlays otherwise than through clients’ contributions.

Register of advice organisations

12ARegister of advice organisations

12BAdvice and assistance

Part III Civil Legal Aid

13 Meaning of “civil legal aid”.

14 Availability of civil legal aid.

15 Financial conditions.

16 Expenses in favour of certain assisted persons.

17 Contributions, and payments out of property recovered.

18 Expenses of unassisted party.

19 Expenses out of the Fund.

20 Provisions supplementary to sections 18 and 19.

Part IV Criminal Legal Aid

21 Scope and nature of criminal legal aid.

22 Automatic availability of criminal legal aid.

23 Power of the court to grant legal aid.

23ALegal aid in solemn proceedings

24 Legal aid in summary proceedings.

25 Legal aid in appeals.

25AA Legal aid in respect of appeals under section 303A of the 1995 Act.

25ABLegal aid in references, appeals or applications for special leave to appeal to the Supreme Court

Part IVA Criminal Legal Assistance

25A Criminal Legal Assistance Register.

Code of practice

25B Code of practice in relation to criminal legal assistance.

25C Supervision of registered solicitors and firms.

Removal of name from Register

25D Removal of name from Register following failure to comply with code.

25E Further provision as to removal of name from Register.

25F Publication of Register.

Part V Employment of Solicitors by the Board

26 Employment to which Part V applies.

27 Arrangements for employment to which Part V applies.

28 General provisions relating to employment to which Part V applies.

28A Power of Board to employ solicitors to provide criminal assistance.

Part VI Miscellaneous

Proceedings in relation to children

29 Legal aid in respect of certain proceedings relating to children.

Contempt of court

30 Legal aid in contempt proceedings.

Solicitors and counsel

31 Solicitors and counsel.

32 Restriction on payment and employment of solicitor or counsel.

33 Fees and outlays of solicitors and counsel.

Contracts for the provision of criminal legal assistance

33A Contracts for the provision of criminal legal assistance.

34 Confidentiality of information.

35 False information etc.

35A Power of Board to require information.

35AAInformation about legal services

35B Power of Board to enter premises and investigate.

Suspension of payments to solicitor

35C Suspension of payments to solicitor.

Regulations and rules of court

36 Regulations.

37 Parliamentary procedure.

38 Rules of court.

Rights of indemnity

39 Adaptation of rights to indemnity.

41 Interpretation.

41A Regulations in relation to criminal legal assistance.

42 Disposable income and capital.

43 Act not to affect certain taxations etc.

43A Applications of Act to services provided under Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990.

44 Crown application.

45 Amendments, transitional provisions, savings and repeals.

46 Short title, commencement and extent.

SCHEDULE 1 The Scottish Legal Aid Board

Incorporation and Status

1The Board shall be a body corporate with a common...

2(1) The Board is not an emanation of the Crown...

Tenure of Members

3Subject to paragraphs 4 and 5 below any member of...

4(1) The chairman or a member may resign office by...

5The Secretary of State may terminate the appointment of a...

Remuneration of members

6(1) The Board may— (a) pay to its members such...

7(1) The Board shall, after consultation with, and subject to...

8(1) Subject to paragraph 9 below, the Board may appoint,...

9(1) The Board shall, not later than such date as...

10(1) Where a person becomes an employee of the Board...

11(1) Any dispute as to whether an offer under sub-paragraph...

12(1) Subject to anything in regulations made by the Secretary...

13The Board may pay to each of its members and...

14. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Board not dominus litis

15Nothing done by the Board for the purpose of securing...

SCHEDULE 1AFurther provision in relation to the Register of Advice organisations

Register of advice organisations

1(1) An organisation which satisfies the Board that it complies...

2(1) An application for entry on the register of advice...

Further provision on applications

3(1) In determining any application for entry on the register...

4(1) The Board shall prepare a code of practice (an...

5The Board is to monitor— (a) the provision of advice...

Removal of name from the register of advice organisations

6(1) Where it appears to the Board (whether or not...

7(1) A decision by the Board to refuse an application...

Part I Courts in which Civil Legal Aid is Available

1Civil legal aid shall be available in relation to civil...

2For the purposes of section 13 of this Act, proceedings...

3Proceedings for judicial review before the Upper Tribunal

Part II Excepted Proceedings

1Subject to section 14(1C) and paragraph 2 below, civil legal...

2The making of a counterclaim for defamation or verbal injury...

3Civil legal aid shall not be available in relation to...

4Subject to paragraph 5 below, civil legal aid shall not...

5Nothing in paragraph 4 above shall preclude any third party...

SCHEDULE 3 Minor and Consequential Amendments

The Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1972 (c.18)

1(1) In section 31(1) of the Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement)...

2(1) Section 43A of that Act shall be amended as...

The House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 (c.24)

3In Part III of Schedule 1 to the House of...

The Northern Ireland Assembly Disqualification Act 1975 (c.25)

4In Part III of Schedule 1 to the Northern Ireland...

The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (c.65)

5In section 75(4) of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 for...

The Race Relations Act 1976 (c.74)

6In section 66(6) of the Race Relations Act 1976 for...

The Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980 (c.46)

7In section 35(4) of the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980 for...

8(1) Section 51 of that Act shall be amended as...

The Tenants’ Rights, Etc. (Scotland) Act 1980 (c.52)

9In section 9B(4) of the Tenants’ Rights, Etc. (Scotland) Act...

SCHEDULE 4 Transitional Provisions and Savings

The Legal Aid (Scotland) fund

1(1) On the appointed day the Legal Aid (Scotland) Fund...

Rights, obligations and property

2Subject to paragraph 1 above, on the appointed day all...

Legal aid and advice and assistance

3(1) Nothing in this Act shall affect any legal aid...

4(1) Any application for legal aid duly made under the...

5Any arrangements made by the Law Society under section 12...

6(1) In this Schedule “the appointed day” means the day...

Schedule 5 Repeals

Royal arms

Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986

1986 CHAPTER 47

An Act to establish the Scottish Legal Aid Board and the Scottish Legal Aid Fund; to make new provision in connection with the availability of criminal legal aid in Scotland; to repeal and re-enact with modifications certain enactments relating to legal aid and to advice and assistance in Scotland; and for connected purposes.

[25th July 1986]

Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—