Legal Aid, Advice and Assistance (Northern Ireland) Order 1981

Provisions supplementary to Article 16 N.I.

17.—(1) Provision may be made by regulations—

(a) for determining the proceedings which are or are not to be treated as separate proceedings for the purposes of Article 16, or as having been instituted by the party receiving legal aid for the purposes of Article 16(3)( a);

(b) for modifying Article 16(3)( b) in its application to an unassisted party who is concerned in proceedings only in a fiduciary, representative or official capacity; and

(c) for regulating the procedure to be followed in connection with orders under Article 16.

(2) Regulations made by virtue of paragraph (1)( c) may in particular make provision—

(a) for the reference of applications for orders under Article 16, or of any questions of fact relevant to such applications, for inquiry and report by a statutory officer appointed under section 70 of the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978 [1978 c.23] ;

(b) for the exercise by a statutory officer of the powers under Article 16 of a judge of the High Court or a county court judge;

(c) for enabling the Law Society to be heard in connection with any order under Article 16.

(3) Regulations for the purposes of paragraphs (1) and (2), in so far as they relate to statutory officers, shall not be made[F1 except after consultation with] the Lord Chief Justice.

(4) For the purposes of Article 16 proceedings shall be treated as finally decided in favour of the unassisted party—

(a) if no appeal lies against the decision in his favour;

(b) if an appeal lies against the decision with leave, and the time limited for applications for leave expires without leave being granted; or

(c) if leave to appeal against the decision is granted or is not required, and no appeal is brought within the time limited for appeal;

and where an appeal against the decision is brought out of time, the court by which the appeal (or any further appeal in those proceedings) is determined may, if the appeal is allowed, make an order for the repayment by the unassisted party to the legal aid fund of the whole or any part of the sum previously paid to him in respect of those proceedings under Article 16.

(5) Where a court decides any proceedings in favour of the unassisted party and an appeal lies (with or without leave) against the decision, the court may, if it thinks fit, make or refuse to make an order under Article 16 forthwith, but any order so made shall not take effect—

(a) where leave to appeal is required, unless the time limited for applications for leave to appeal expires without leave being granted;

(b) where leave to appeal is granted or is not required, unless the time limited for appeal expires without an appeal being brought.

(6) Where a party begins to receive legal aid in connection with any proceedings after those proceedings have been instituted, or ceases to receive legal aid before they are finally decided, or otherwise receives legal aid in connection with part only of any proceedings, the reference in Article 16(1) to the costs incurred by the unassisted party in those proceedings shall be construed as a reference to so much of those costs as is attributable to that part.

F1 SI 1982/159