396 / 736
if the Minister for Justice failed to make adequate
revisions of the scale of fees.
It was felt that under the present system the
fees paid to defending counsel were unreasonable.
At present senior counsel in a murder trial are
paid 30 guineas on the brief and 12 guineas for
every subsequent day; junior counsel are paid
two-thirds of this, or if appearing without senior,
then 25 guineas. In all other cases senior are paid
15 guineas and 10 guineas refresher; juniors are
paid 10 guineas and seven refresher. If the judge
allows it, they can receive an additional maximum
of 10 guineas for advising proofs. This is a dis
cretion which judges exercise differently; some
only allow four guineas while others sometimes
give the maximum. The fees do not make any
allowance for travelling to the Circuit Courts, nor
do they take into account the number of appear
ances a barrister may make. One barrister said he
had travelled seven times to a court in Wexford
on a legal case and his fees were 10 guineas, and
whatever the judge allowed for proofs.
In Northern Ireland a distinction
is drawn
between murder and other offences. There the fees
in a murder trial are between 100 and 300 guineas
for senior counsel, and between 40 and 75 guineas
fresher. In other cases they get between 50 and
100 guineas, and between 25 and 50 guineas
refresher. In other cases they get between 50 and
are paid between 25 and 35 guineas. But the
English system makes even further distinctions.
If a person pleads guilty to murder then senior is
paid 80, while the junior gets 50 guineas if he is
on his own. For a trial the fees are between 80
and 150 guineas. In other cases it is between 40
and 100 guineas.
EXPERIMENTAL BASIS
In the estimates for the appropriate accounts
£20,000 was allowed for legal aid cases in
1967/
'68. For the following year 1968/'69 the figure
dropped to £16,000. But the actual sum expended
last year was only £9,289 which includes solicitors'
and witnesses' fees. It is estimated that not more
than £5,000 was paid to barristers. In the same
year a sum of £11,934 was spent on commissions
and inquiries. The figure for this year's commis
sions and inquiries will inevitably be far in excess
of last year's figures.
The scheme began in 1965, and the scale should
have been reviewed
in 1967 but the Minister
claimed that the trial period was three years and
not two. The Bar, though they disagreed about the
length of the trial period, operated the system for
a further year. Towards the end of that year the
Council recommended that fees should be on a
parity with prosecution fees. The matter was then
put under
' Ministerial consideration', and the
consideration apparently took a further two-and-
a-half years. At a meting between the Minister and
a deputation from the Bar Council, the Minister
informed the Council that in agreement with the
Minister for Finance he would grant an increase
of 25% and 3 guineas for consultation.
PUBLIC MONEY
If the Bar withdrew from the system then they
will revert to the old system of defending criminals
without charge. Prior to the introduction of legal
aid criminals were always given full representation
by both solicitors and barristers.
At the same time the State prosecutors were
being paid out of public money. It is the difference
between fees paid to State counsel and those paid
to defending counsel that has led to the present
claim. The Bar claim that defence counsel should
be paid the same fee as State counsel, and that
there is no principle which justifies the defence
counsel being paid less than the prosecution. In
particular they point out that there is a far greater
responsibility on the counsel for the defence. They
also point out that the present scheme fails to
include such matters as applications for bail, or
the appearance of a senior counsel in the district
court for the preliminary investigation. It is known
that under the present scheme many people are
obtaining legal aid when they have sufficient funds
to pay for a defence.—
Irish Times,
17 February,
.1970.
LEYDEN — AMSTERDAM — COLUMBIA
SUMMER PROGRAMME IN AMERICAN
LAW
The Columbia University in the City of New
York, the University of Leyden and the University
of Amsterdam organise a yearly summer course in
American Law since 1963. The 1970 session will
be held in Leyden from June 29th to July 24th
110