布政司署
香港下亞厘 畢道
*** OUR REF.: (23) in SEC L/M 38/77 (T/C)
來函檔號 Your REF.:
T. J. David, Esq.
SW1A 2AH
Hong Kong & General Department Foreign & Commonwealth Office London
RO
Dear Mr. David,
C.S. 41A
GOVERNMent secRETARIAT
LOWER ALBERT ROAD
HONG KONG
14
25th May, 1977
· 51
8 JUN 1977
NKK 380/2
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15
Letter from Mr. K. Stainton MP, about Mr. Christopher
Clements
Further to the Attorney General's letter to you of 19th May, I enclose a copy of the Legal Aid (Assessment of Contributions) Regulations, and a copy of the Legal Aid in Criminal Cases Rules. You will note that the Regulations allow the Director of Legal Aid considerable discretion in the computation of income of an applicant. For persons under first instance trial on a serious criminal charge the Director has instructed that that discretion shall on all cases be exercised to the advantage of the applicant. In many cases it proves possible to compute the disposable income as zero, and substantial offsets are allowed in the computation of disposable capital. If the total disposable resources of the applicant as computed are less than those set out in the Second Schedule of the Rules, then the applicant will receive Legal Aid. No 'points system' or other system limiting availability of Legal Aid is followed; Legal Aid to cover all legal costs will be given to any applicant whose disposable income is less than that set out, even where the applicant proposes to plead guilty. This course is obligatory where a capital charge is in question under Rule 13. Appeals in capital cases are treated in an identical manner. Appeals in other criminal cases are subject to a 'points system'; the Director of Legal Aid will refuse to issue Legal Aid where the appeal seems frivolous or baseless.
2.
I attach a sheet of statistics covering the period 1st January 1970 to 23rd May, 1977. You will note that 96. 4% of applicants seeking Legal Aid in a First Instance capital charge receive it, 89.7% in appeals on capital charges, 88.7% in First Instance non-capital charges in the High Court, and 35.7% in non-capital appeals to the Court of Appeals in criminal cases. It is in fact increasingly rarely that serious criminal cases are defended privately in Hong Kong; in recent months almost the only such cases have involved persons accused of narcotics and corruption offences who held substantial capital assets.
3.
Legal Aid is limited to trials (in other words to procedures after the date of committal) since it is felt that pre-trial committal proceedings are in
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