§ 56. Mr. B. SMITHasked the Attorney-General whether he is aware that the main defect of the Poor Persons Depart- 2224 ment, recommended to be abolished by the last of Mr. Justice P. O. Lawrence's Committees, was that it had no power to give, and was incapable of giving, because there was no lawyer on its staff, legal advice to the poor; and whether he will recommend, or cause recommendations to be made, to the committees of solicitors referred to in the Report of the Committee presided over by Mr. Justice P. O. Lawrence (Cmd. 2358), that the clerk or librarian also referred to in the said Report should receive a proper legal education before undertaking his duties, and that the small honorarium, and also his accommodation, recommended in the said Report, then be moderately increased?
§ The ATTORNEY-GENERALThe hon. Member has misconceived the functions performed by the Poor Persons Department and to be performed in the future by the official, if any, employed by the local law society. Those functions are purely administrative, and do not include the giving of legal advice.
§ 57. Mr. J. HUDSONasked the Attorney-General whether, seeing that the Poor Persons Rules, and those contemplated, prohibit a poor person proceeding under the said rules from recovering, when successful, any costs other than the out-of-pocket expenses, since 1919 reduced by some 50 per cent.; that in ordinary litigation in England by ordinary persons a successful party recovers ordinary costs in addition to the out-of-pocket expenses; and that every civilised nation except England, whose only State legal aid to the poor in civil proceedings is the remission of court fees, allows a successful poor person to whom legal aid has been given in civil proceedings to recover from the unsuccessful party costs as well as out-of-pocket expenses like an ordinary litigant, he will recommend, or cause recommendations to be made, that the old Chancery rule before the Judicature Acts, allowing ordinary costs as well as out-of-pocket expenses to a successful poor person, to whom court fees have been remitted in civil litigation, may be restored?
§ The ATTORNEY-GENERALI do not accept the assumptions of fact contained in the question. The answer to the question itself is in the negative.
§ 58. Mr. CLUSEasked the Attorney-General whether he is aware that, with the exception of Spain, England is the only civilised country in the world that has a rigid poverty test limit as a condition for granting civil court aid to poor persons; whether, as the Report of the Committee presided over by Mr. Justice P. O. Lawrence (Command Paper, 2358) recommended that the rigid poverty test limit so far only as concerns married women in matrimonial proceedings should be alternatively abolished, but should be retained for all other poor persons, he will consider whether in the interest of justice the rigid poverty test limit should not be entirely abolished and legal aid be given to all poor persons, in all cases where it is necessary because of poverty, to secure justice in the circumstances of each particular case, such being the practice in Scotland; and whether he will recommend or cause recommendations to be made in the proper quarters to secure the equal administration of justice to the poor in civil proceedings without exclusion by a rigid limit either as to income or capital, legal aid being given to the poor, in whole or in part, where necessary to secure justice?
§ The ATTORNEY-GENERALNo, Sir; I am not prepared to make any such recommendation.