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High Court, in judicial review proceedings, decides net issue of interpretation of legal aid custody issues scheme and finds that: (1) the applicant (who challenged the constitutionality of a criminal statute imposing a certain suspended sentence upon him) is entitled to his legal costs of prior High Court proceedings following on from a High Court Judge's recommendation that such costs be paid out by the legal aid board to the applicant under the scheme; and (2) the board's decision to disregard the Court's recommendation and make its own determination of the applicant's eligibility under the scheme was incorrect as a matter of law where it is the Court and not the board who determines eligibility issues applying to the scheme.
Judicial review - whether power to decide if particular proceedings are eligible for legal aid custody issues scheme resides with High Court or with Legal Aid Board - Board's decision to disregard High Court's recommendation in earlier proceedings that scheme should apply to applicant's legal costs - decision in breach of terms of scheme - jurisdiction to decide lies with High Court to determine eligibility - background facts - prior proceedings challenging reactivation of suspended sentence wherein injunctive relief was sought - overview of scheme - judicial observations on scheme - current (2013) version of scheme - purpose and application - eligibility criteria - no authorisation granted to legal aid board by scheme rules enabling it to disregard court's recommendation - whether eligibility criteria were met - principle relief sought in earlier proceedings was a declaration of unconstitutionality together with an injunction - prohibition would not lie against Director of Public Prosecutions - overly technical view of reliefs - proceedings in fact concerned criminal matters where applicant's liberty was at issue - interplay between reliefs of prohibition and injunctions - 'form' of proceedings - issue estoppel does not arise where issue not argued and adjudicated upon in earlier proceedings - constitutional claim regarding right to legal aid in criminal proceedings need not be addressed - applicant entitled to recover his legal costs as assessed and measured by board.
Note: This is intended to be a fair and accurate report of a decision made public by a court of law. Any errors should be notified to the editor and will be dealt with accordingly.
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