§ The Lord Chancellor rose to move, That the following amendment be made to the Standing Orders regulating Judicial Business: —
§ Standing Order XIII
§ Leave out paragraph (2).
§ The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, I rise to move the Motion standing in my name. I must explain that it has nothing to do with the Statement that I have just made, and the Motion to which I then referred will be laid before the House at a later date.
§ The paragraph which I am now asking the House to delete from the Judicial Standing Orders covers appeals in forma pauperis. By 1973 the only such appeals to survive were those from Northern Ireland. In that year, however, a Statute Law (Repeals) Act was passed repealing the Appeals (Forma Pauperis) Act 1893. With that repeal the last vestiges of appeals in forma pauperis disappeared, and paragraph (2) of Standing Order XIII is therefore obsolete. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That the following amendment be made to the Standing Orders regulating Judicial Business: —
§ Standing Order XIII
§ Leave out paragraph (2).—(The Lord Chancellor).
919§ Lord Elwyn-JonesMy Lords, I welcome the change. Since those far off days (I shall not call them halcyon days) such a thing as legal aid has—thank God!—come into existence.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.