Legal Aid
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Law is a gift of god and a decision of sages.[1] It has two great objects to preserve order and to do justice: and the two do not always coincide. Plato expressed that equity is a necessary element supplementary to the imperfect generalization of legal rules.[2] Seven Hundred years old clarion call of Magna Carta –“To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay the right to justice” very pertinently embodies the principle of legal aid. However, it was only when the colonial hangover of the Indian legal system was pointed by the committee for illegal aid and was stated that the shadow of the law created by the British to suit there convinces, has resulted in an insensitive system especially towards the socio-economic problems of the masses.[3]
The rise of welfare state in the twentieth century has brought forward with it the concept of legal aid for those who cannot afford the cost of litigation.[4] Bangladesh is a developing democratic country of the world. The Constitution of the People’s Republic Bangladesh, 1972 has theoretically ensured access to justice, fair trail rule of law, fundamental rights, human rights and equality before law.
But no amount of the constitutional protection of these high ideals can help a poor citizen of a country like ors to protect his rights and liberties unless there is some one to stand by his side to provide legal aid.[5] In this thesis paper, at first I’ll give a concept of legal aid with its general meaning as well as the meaning given in the Legal Aid Act, 2000; after that there will be a brief discussion about some provision of international and national legal instrument in which the concept of legal aid has been ensured or may be found indirectly: then I’ll tray to analyze some important provision of the Legal Aid Act, 2000 and show how far the legal aid is made available through this Act by the government of Bangladesh as well by the NGOs, and the limitation if any. Finally
INTRODUCTION
Law is a gift of god and a decision of sages.[1] It has two great objects to preserve order and to do justice: and the two do not always coincide. Plato expressed that equity is a necessary element supplementary to the imperfect generalization of legal rules.[2] Seven Hundred years old clarion call of Magna Carta –“To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay the right to justice” very pertinently embodies the principle of legal aid. However, it was only when the colonial hangover of the Indian legal system was pointed by the committee for illegal aid and was stated that the shadow of the law created by the British to suit there convinces, has resulted in an insensitive system especially towards the socio-economic problems of the masses.[3]
The rise of welfare state in the twentieth century has brought forward with it the concept of legal aid for those who cannot afford the cost of litigation.[4] Bangladesh is a developing democratic country of the world. The Constitution of the People’s Republic Bangladesh, 1972 has theoretically ensured access to justice, fair trail rule of law, fundamental rights, human rights and equality before law.
But no amount of the constitutional protection of these high ideals can help a poor citizen of a country like ors to protect his rights and liberties unless there is some one to stand by his side to provide legal aid.[5] In this thesis paper, at first I’ll give a concept of legal aid with its general meaning as well as the meaning given in the Legal Aid Act, 2000; after that there will be a brief discussion about some provision of international and national legal instrument in which the concept of legal aid has been ensured or may be found indirectly: then I’ll tray to analyze some important provision of the Legal Aid Act, 2000 and show how far the legal aid is made available through this Act by the government of Bangladesh as well by the NGOs, and the limitation if any. Finally