Britain: An official handbook > 1977

LAW REFORM
JUSTICE AND THE LAW 107
Voluntary duty solicitor schemes at some magistrates’ courts provide ‘stand¬
by’ help for unrepresented defendants.
The criminal legal aid scheme in England and Wales is administered by the
courts, under the overall responsibility of the Home Secretary.
The arrangements for aid in criminal proceedings in Scotland and Northern
Ireland are broadly similar, but in Scotland there is a statutory duty solicitor
scheme for accused people in custody in sheriff, and district, court cases and
the ‘interests of justice’ test applies only in summary cases.
The duty of keeping the law under review in order to ensure that it meets the
needs of modern society lies, in England and Wales with the Law Reform
Committee, the Criminal Law Revision Committee and the Law Commission,
and in Scotland with the Scottish Law Commission. The Law Reform Com¬
mittee and the Criminal Law Revision Committee are standing committees of
judges and distinguished practising and academic lawyers, appointed respectively
by the Lord Chancellor and the Home Secretary, to examine such aspects of the
civil and criminal law as may be referred to them by the appropriate minister.
The Criminal Law Revision Committee has produced 12 reports, ten
recommending legislation, of which nine have been wholly or partly enacted.
The Law Commission is a permanent body consisting of five lawyers of high
standing, charged with the duty of scrutinising the law with a view to its
systematic development and reform, including the possibility of codification,
the elimination of anomalies, the repeal of obsolete and unnecessary enact¬
ments, and the reduction of the number of separate enactments. It reports to the
Lord Chancellor. The Scottish Law Commission, which has a constitution
similar to that of the English body and similar functions in relation to the law
of Scotland, reports to the Lord Advocate. The work of the two commissions
has led to changes in many areas of the law, the repeal of over 500 obsolete Acts
and the pruning of the contents of more than 1,000 others.
EXPENDITURE
TABLE 6: Public Expenditure on Justice and Law in the United Kingdom
£ million
1951-52 1961-62 1971-72 1973-74 1974-75
Police
Prisons
Legal aid
Probation and
after-care
Parliament and
law courts
TOTAL
of which capital
expenditure
73
7
156
23
4
23
474
84
23
17
69
585 742
123 156
37 37
26
101
33
113
88
8
206
16
667
53
872
88
1,081
94
Source: Social Trends 1975