Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University,

Trishal, Mymensingh.
Subject Code: LL.B 204
Subject: Alternative Dispute Resolution and Legal Aid
Assignment Topic: Introduction to Legal Aid

Submitted By:
Maria Afroz Tithi
ID No. : 2015329
Session: 2019-20
2nd Year 1st Semester
Department of Law & Justice
Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University,
Trishal, Mymensingh.

Submitted To:
Md. Ahsan Kabir
LL.B (Hons), LL.M
Assistant Professor and Department Head
Dept. Of Law & Justice

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 Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………...……..………. 03
History of Legal Aid………………………...………….... 03
Legal Aid in International Aspect……………...………. 04
Legal Aid in Bangladesh……………………………...…. 05
Conclusion………………………………………………… 06
References………………………………….…………...... 06

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Introduction:

The main purpose of legal aid is, “Access to Justice.” Access to justice is the
ability of people to seek and obtain a remedy through formal or informal
institutions of justice. According to Professor Black, legal aid is the free and
inexpensive legal services provided to those who cannot afford to pay full price.
Section 2(a) of Legal Aid Services Act 2000 says that “legal aid” means to give the
litigants who are incapable of seeking justice due to financial insolvency,
destitution, helplessness and for various socio economic conditions. It is the
assistance in legal matters both inside and outside of the courts to the indigent
people. This concept has been brought forward with the rise of welfare states in the
twentieth century. Modern adjudication process and trials are very expensive and
this expense has created difficulties for ordinary and poor people to get access to
justice. This is both in developed and developing countries. There is famous quote
of Mathew L.J in this regard “Justice is open to all like the Ritz Hotel.” Which
brings to light the age old problem of how the expensive litigation process is
actually preventing litigants from accessing justice. So to solve this issue the
concept of legal aid was brought forth. It is essential to provide litigants equality
before the law, the right to counsel and the right to a fair trial.

History:

Though legal aid is closely related in modern times with welfare state. It can be
traced back the Roman Empire. The Magna Carta also known as the Great
Charter signed in June 1215 with King John promised that everyone shall have
equal access to courts and justice, ‘To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay
justice.” In 19th century, movements in European countries demanding right
counsel and right to a fair trial is where roots of modern legal aid can be found.
These movements demanded that the courts waived off court fees and provided
legal counselors to those who couldn’t afford to get counselors themselves. This

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was known as Pro Bono services. Though these countries wanted to provide their
poverty stricken with justice, there was no formal approach in this regard.

Most European countries went on to establish laws for the payment of a moderate
fee to the legal counselors and legal aid was restricted only to lawyer costs in
judicial proceedings. Countries with a civil law legal system and common law
legal systems took different approaches in providing legal aid. Civil law countries
emphasized on the right to counsel in civil proceedings, and provided legal aid
where a lawyer is required. Common law countries put emphasis on the right to
counsel and primarily provided legal aid in criminal proceedings.

Later in late 19th century with the industrialization, trade unions and workers'
parties emerged that challenging the social policies of governments. These unions
started to provide workers with legal advice on their new economic, social and
cultural rights. Demand for these services was high and in an attempt to provide
workers with non-partisan advice, many governments started to provide legal aid
by the early 20th century.

Legal aid in international aspect:

Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights lays down the basic
principle that, “All are equal before the law and entitled without any
discrimination to equal protection of the law.” With this commitment the member
countries of United Nations recognized the importance of legal aid and striven to
safeguard the right to legal aid services and to meet the demand for legal aid
services in a wide range of matters.

For poor and marginalized groups, the justice system can be difficult to understand
and navigate due to obstacles, such as lack of financial resources, lack of
awareness on how to access the justice system, and long travel distances to reach a
legal service provider. In these cases, legal aid is often the only means by which
many people across the world can overcome such barriers. On these grounds are
legal aid has gained increasing recognition at the global level.

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The United States of America was among the first countries to guarantee a right
to counsel in its Constitution. But, it was not until 1963 that the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that the Constitution requires the states to provide defense attorneys to
criminal defendants who cannot afford lawyers themselves.
Legal assistance in England was confined to the contexts of civil litigation and
misdemeanor until 18th century. Legal aid in Europe is often based on the
European Convention on Human Rights (Article 6(3)), and the European Court of
Human Rights provides guidance on the provision of State-funded legal aid to the
region’s populations.

In Canada, the modern system of legal aid developed after the federal government
instituted a system of cost-sharing between the federal and provincial governments
in the early 1970s. They opted for an assigned counsel model similar to the
European approach.

Developed countries such as the United States of America, United Kingdom and
other European countries have already developed a wide range of networks to
provide judicial, pre judicial and post judicial legal aid to the litigants in which
private sectors provide legal services and the government pays on behalf of the
parties.
In Indonesia, law students began providing primary legal aid through advice and
consultation bureaus in 1967. Later in 1971, the Indonesia Advocates Union
called for the establishment of a Legal Aid Institute, with the backing and financial
support of the Governor of Jakarta.

In our neighbor country India, protection of life and personal liberty has been
recognized in Article 21 of their constitution, “No person shall be deprived of his
life and personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.” And
Article 39A recognizes equal justice and free legal aid. With this in mind, the First
Law Commission of India recommended that lawyers provide representation in
courts, prison appeals and criminal proceedings in 1958.

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Legal aid in Bangladesh:

Bangladesh is a welfare state. Article 27 of the constitution of Bangladesh

embodied the principle of equality of justice enshrined in Article 7 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights by making it a fundamental right of the citizens, “All
citizens are equal before law and entitled to equal protection of law.” Even the
preamble of the constitution pledges that the fundamental aim of the state shall be
to realize a socialist society in which equality of justice will be secured for all
citizens. Thus legal aid is not a charity in Bangladesh but a right and a necessity in
ensuring the principles of Rule of Law. One of the principles of Natural Justice is
Audi Alterem Partem (i.e. Nobody should be condemned unheard). Meaning it‘s
the requirement of the judge to hear a person before condemning him. In the case
of Dr. Neelima Ibrahim vs. Bangladesh it was held that the principle of Audi
Alterem Partem unless expressly excluded by law or by the nature of the objects of
any particular law is to be implied to have been proved in every statute. The
provision of legal aid was already recognized in the Code of Civil Procedure,
1908 as pauper suit. Pauper according to the code of civil procedure is a person
who does not possess sufficient means to pay the fee prescribed by law for such
suits or where no fees is prescribed, when he has less than five thousand taka in
property his necessary wearing apparel and the subject matter of the suit.
Provisions were also available in Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,
1989 that an accused should be defended by a lawyer and must pay the fees and
nothing more. These provisions were not much effective due to lack of cooperation
by the government. All this promise amounted to nothing due to the economic
condition of the common people. Most of the people in Bangladesh are illiterate
and they live below the poverty line. About 90 percent of them are just not poverty
stricken but also deprived of basic necessities. They are the people who find
themselves constantly harassed, victimized, wronged. But their socio economic
situation doesn’t afford them the luxury of justice. They live a reality filled with
cruelty and injustice. The costs of a litigation process, court fess, lawyer fees and
documents are way too expensive for these people to carry. So to protect and
ensure the fundamental right promised in the constitution, it was necessary to
provide them with legal aid to the litigants. The government of Bangladesh first
initiated legal aid services in the year 1994, by adopting a resolution to establish a

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national legal aid committee those goal was to provide legal aid at district and
national level. But legal aid movements didn’t gain any remarkable outcome until
2000 when the government partnered up with the Canadian International
Development Agency to provide legal aid to the marginalized. With this in mind
the government passed the Legal Aid Act 2000. Government also established the
National Legal Aid Service Organisation (NLASO) and further policies and
regulations followed to establish the legal aid system, including the latest Legal
Aid Services Regulations in 2015. Before government took any intiative, legal
aid was provided to the poor litigants by some prominent Non Profit
Organizations. The leading NGO’s were Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust
(BLAST), Ain O Shalish Kendro (ASK), Madaripur Legal Aid Association,
Women Lawyers Association etc. etc. Legal aid was also included in Section (C)
of the Acid Niontron Ain of 2002 that to the person who have fallen victim to acid
violence, it is the duty of the council to provide prescribed policy for their medical
aid, rehabilitation and legal and also take proper steps for monitoring and its
execution.

Conclusion:

Legal aid empowers individuals and communities, contributes in reducing poverty

and protection of in the human rights. Legal aid is a fundamental necessity for
human existence. The equaitable development of a country is recognized by its
administration of justice. If we cannot provide justice to the marginalized, our
country will never thrive, crimes will go unchecked, people will be wrongfully
persecuted. To ensure justice to the marginalized and the poverty stricken, legal aid
is vital and essential. If we want our country to prosper as a welfare state and
shield the public from harm, provide detention and rehabilitation services, and
ensure equal justice for all citizens then we must provide our necessitous people
with legal aid. as Marou Amadou, Minister of Justice, Republic of Niger said
“Poverty has many faces, and legal aid can help address many of them.”

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References:

1. https://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-
reform/LegalAid/Global-Study-on-Legal-Aid_Report
2. http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/2423/Protect-Rights-of-Justice-
Seekers:-A-Critical-Analysis-of-Legal-Aid-Laws-of-Bangladesh.html
3. http://nlaso.portal.gov.bd/sites/default/files/files/nlaso.portal.gov.bd/publicat
ions/9b8d5bde_e471_4708_997f_168f9db5cf05/Legal%20Aid%20Empowe
rs%20the%20Critically%20Disadvantaged%20People%20of%20Banglades
h.pdf
4. https://www.academia.edu/36579126/Importance_of_Legal_Aid_Services_i
n_Bangladesh
5. https://www.justiceinitiative.org/voices/un-recognizes-vital-role-legal-
aid#:~:text=Effective%20legal%20aid%20schemes%20produce,for%20the
%20rule%20of%20law.
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_aid#:~:text=Historically%20legal%20ai
d%20has%20its,to%20pay%20for%20a%20solicitor.
7. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272026513_A_Critical_Analysis_
of_Legal_Aid_in_Bangladesh
8. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343836305_Legal_aid_system_in_
Bangladesh