A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or puisne court, elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the same meaning. Depending on the jurisdiction, such justices dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions. Justices of the peace are appointed or elected from the citizens of the jurisdiction in which they serve, and are usually not required to have any formal legal education in order to qualify for the office. Some jurisdictions have varying forms of training for JPs.
Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to counsel and the right to a fair trial. This article describes the development of legal aid and its principles, primarily as known in Europe, the Commonwealth of Nations and in the United States.
A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, and some states of Australia, provide people with public defenders. Brazil is the only country in which an office of government-paid lawyers with the specific purpose of providing legal assistance and representation to the destitute free of charge, is established in the constitution. The Sixth Amendment of the US Constitution requires the US government to provide free legal counsel to indigent defendants in criminal cases, and public defenders in the United States are full-time lawyers employed by the state or federal governments.
The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria that follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the Queen, represented by the Governor of Victoria, the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. It has a fused executive drawn from members of both chambers. The parliament meets at Parliament House in the state capital Melbourne. The current Parliament was elected on 24 November 2018, sworn in on 19 December 2018 and is the 59th parliament in Victoria.
The Legal Services Commission (LSC) was an executive non-departmental public body of the Ministry of Justice which was responsible for the operational administration of legal aid in England and Wales between 2000 and 2013.
The Australian Intelligence Community (AIC) and the National Intelligence Community (NIC) or National Security Community of the Australian Government are the collectives of statutory intelligence agencies, policy departments, and other government agencies concerned with protecting and advancing the national security and national interests of the Commonwealth of Australia. The intelligence and security agencies of the Australian Government have evolved since the Second World War and the Cold War and saw transformation and expansion during the Global War on Terrorism with military deployments in Afghanistan, Iraq and against ISIS in Syria. Key international and national security issues for the Australian Intelligence Community include terrorism and violent extremism, cybersecurity, transnational crime, the rise of China, and Pacific regional security.
A duty solicitor, duty counsel, or duty lawyer, is a solicitor whose services are available to a person either suspected of, or charged with, a criminal offence free of charge, if that person does not have access to a solicitor of their own and usually if it is judged by a means test that they cannot afford one. The system is operative in several Commonwealth countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
Legal Aid BC is the legal aid provider in British Columbia, Canada.
Sir Henry Arthur Winneke, was a Chief Justice of Victoria and the 21st Governor of Victoria, from 1974 to 1982.
Julian Gardner is an Australian lawyer renowned for his promotion of human rights through the practice of law. In 2015 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for "significant service to the community through leadership roles with social welfare, mental health, legal aid and other legal organisations".
Manitoba Justice, or the Department of Justice, is the provincial government department responsible for administering the Crown Law justice systems in the province of Manitoba.
A community legal centre (CLC) is the Australian term for an independent not-for-profit organisation providing legal aid services, that is, provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. They provide legal advice and traditional casework for free, primarily funded by federal, state and local government. Working with clients who are mostly the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people in Australian society, they also work with other agencies to address related problems, including financial, social and health issues. Their functions may include campaigning for law reform and developing community education programs.
Ombudsmen in Australia are independent agencies who assist when a dispute arises between individuals and industry bodies or government agencies. Government ombudsman services are free to the public, like many other ombudsman and dispute resolution services, and are a means of resolving disputes outside of the court systems. Australia has an ombudsman assigned for each state; as well as an ombudsman for the Commonwealth of Australia. As laws differ between states just one process, or policy, cannot be used across the Commonwealth. All government bodies are within the jurisdiction of the ombudsman.
The Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJCS) is one of nine government departments in the state of Victoria, Australia.
Kingsford Legal Centre is an Australian not-for-profit legal centre. It is part of the network of Australian Community Legal Centres and also provides clinical legal education as part of the University of New South Wales Faculty of Law. It provides free advice to the residents of the Botany and Randwick local government areas, in subjects such as employment law, debts, victims compensation and domestic violence, as well as providing a statewide service for discrimination matters.
The New South Wales Crown Solicitor's Office (CSO) is an executive government agency of the New South Wales Department of Justice in Australia that has the role of providing legal services to the government, its agencies, and its statutory authorities. The Office practices in twelve areas of law, namely administrative law, child protection law, commercial law, community law, constitutional law, coronial law and inquiries, criminal law, employment law, government law, native title law, property law, and tort law. The Office frequently instructs barristers with regard to civil matters.
The Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) (ALS), known also as Aboriginal Legal Service, is a community-run organisation in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, founded in 1970 to provide legal services to Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders and based in the inner-Sydney suburb of Redfern. It now has branches across NSW and ACT, with its head office in Castlereagh Street, Sydney and a branch office in Regent Street, Redfern.
Moira Emilie Rayner, is a New Zealand-born, Australian-based barrister and human rights advocate. She was the first Commissioner for Equal Opportunity appointed by the Victorian Government under the Equal Opportunity Act 1984, an office which she held until 1994. In this position she was responsible for monitoring the Equal Opportunity Act; the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986, and the Commonwealth legislated Sex Discrimination Act 1984. Simultaneously, in 1986, she was appointed a Commissioner of the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia, a position she held until 1990. In 2000 Rayner became the first Director of the office of Children's Rights Commissioner for the city of London, UK.
