Right to counsel is nowadays generally regarded as a constituent of the right to a fair trial, allowing for the defendant to be assisted by counsel (i. The right to fair trial is an essential right in all countries respecting the Rule of law. e. lawyers), and if he cannot afford his own lawyer, requiring that the government should appoint one for him, or pay his legal expenses. A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law as an attorney, Counsel or Solicitor; a person However, this has not historically always been the case in all countries.
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| Criminal procedure |
|---|
| Criminal trials and convictions |
| Rights of the accused |
| Fair trial · Speedy trial · Jury trial |
| Counsel · Presumption of innocence |
| Exclusionary rule (U.S.) |
| Self-incrimination · Double jeopardy (Not E&W) |
| Verdict |
| Acquittal · Conviction |
| Not proven (Scot.) · Directed verdict |
| Sentencing |
| Mandatory · Suspended · Custodial |
| Dangerous offender (Can., E&W) |
| Capital punishment · Execution warrant |
| Cruel and unusual punishment |
| Post-conviction events |
| Parole · Probation |
| Tariff (UK) · Life licence (UK) |
| Miscarriage of justice |
| Exoneration · Pardon |
| Related areas of law |
| Criminal defenses |
| Criminal law · Evidence |
| Civil procedure |
| Portals: Law · Criminal justice |
Contents |
In Canada
The right to counsel is guaranteed under Section Ten of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as the right to habeas corpus. Criminal procedure refers to the legal process for adjudicating claims that someone has violated Criminal law. The rights of the accused is a class of rights that apply to a person in the time period between when they are formally accused of a crime and when they are either convicted or acquitted The right to fair trial is an essential right in all countries respecting the Rule of law. Speedy trial refers to one of the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution to defendants in criminal proceedings The presumption of innocence being innocent until proven guilty is a legal Right that the Accused in Criminal trials has The exclusionary rule is a legal principle in the United States, under constitutional law, that holds that evidence collected or analyzed in violation of Courts of the United States may refer both to the United States federal courts, which operate under the authority of the United States Constitution Self-incrimination is the act of accusing oneself of a Crime for which a person can then be Prosecuted. Double jeopardy (non bis in idem is a Procedural defense (and in many countries such as the United States, Canada, Mexico and India Her Majesty's Courts of Justice of England and Wales are the civil and criminal Courts responsible for the administration of Justice in England In Law, a verdict is the formal finding of fact made by a Jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge In Criminal law, an acquittal is a verdict of not guilty, or some similar end of the proceeding that terminates it with prejudice without a verdict In Law, a conviction is the Verdict that results when a Court of law finds a Defendant guilty of a Crime. Not proven is a Verdict available to a court in Scotland. Under Scots law, a criminal trial may end in one of three verdicts The civil, criminal and heraldic Courts of Scotland are responsible for the administration of Justice. In Law, a directed Verdict is ruling by a Judge presiding over a Jury trial typically made after the plaintiff has presented all of her evidence In Law, a sentence forms the final act of a Judge -ruled process and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function A mandatory sentence is a court decision setting where Judicial discretion is limited by Law. A suspended sentence is a legal construct Unless a minimum punishment is prescribed by law the Court has the power to suspend the passing of sentence (generally A custodial sentence is a judicial sentence imposing a punishment (and hence the resulting punishment itself consisting of mandatory custody of the convict either in prison In Canada, England and Wales, certain convicted persons may be designated as dangerous offenders and subject to a longer or indefinite term of imprisonment The court system of Canada is made up of many Courts differing in levels of legal superiority and separated by jurisdiction Her Majesty's Courts of Justice of England and Wales are the civil and criminal Courts responsible for the administration of Justice in England Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the Killing of a person by judicial process as Punishment. An execution warrant or death warrant is a warrant which authorizes the execution of a judgment of death ( Capital punishment) on an individual Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system Probation is the suspension of all or part of a jail sentence the Criminal who is "on probation" has been convicted of a crime but instead of serving jail Under the criminal law of England and Wales, a tariff is the minimum period that a person serving an indefinite Prison sentence must serve before that person becomes The United Kingdom does not have a single unified Judicial system, but separate judicial systems serving England and Wales, Scotland and Northern In the British criminal justice system a life licence specifies the conditions under which a prisoner sentenced to life in jail may be released The United Kingdom does not have a single unified Judicial system, but separate judicial systems serving England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Exoneration occurs when a person who has been convicted of a Crime is later proved to have been innocent of that crime A pardon is the forgiveness of a crime and the penalty associated with it The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different Jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential The Law of evidence governs the use of Testimony (eg oral or written statements such as an Affidavit) and exhibits (e Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the process that Courts will follow when hearing cases of a civil nature (a " Civil action " as opposed to Section Ten of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms specifies rights upon Arrest or detention, including the rights to consult a Lawyer and the right Habeas corpus (ˈheɪbiəs ˈkɔɹpəs ( Latin: command that you have the body is the name of a legal action or Writ, through which a person can seek relief
In France
The Napoleonic Code of Criminal Instruction, adopted in France in 1808 and inspiring many similar codes in civil law countries, made it compulsory that the defendant should have a lawyer when tried in the assize courts (which judged severe crimes). The Napoleonic Code, or Code Napoléon (originally called the Code civil des Français) is the French Civil code, established under This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Year 1808 ( MDCCCVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Civil law or Romano-Germanic law or Continental law is the predominant system of law in the world. The Court of Assize, or Assizes, is a medieval term for Legal codes (such as Assizes of Jerusalem) that continues to be used in modern times
In the United Kingdom
England and Wales
Before the Prisoners' Counsel Act (1836), felony defendants did not have the formal right of being represented by a counsel in English courts although, from the mid-18th century such had been routinely indulged where defendants could afford them. It was thought, at the time, that the presence of defence counsel would serve no purpose in criminal proceedings, where what matters is deciding fact: the defendant should simply tell the truth to the court, without the interference of some counsel. William Hawkins in his A Treatise of the Pleas of the Crown: or a system of the principal matters, relating to that subject, digested under their proper heads Vol. II. of 1721 wrote:
- "[I]t requires no manner of Skill to make a plain and honest Defence, which . . . is always the best; the Simplicity and Innocence, artless and ingenuous Behaviour of one whose Conscience acquits him, having something in it more moving and convincing than the highest Eloquence of a Person speaking in a cause not their own. "
This changed as more and more prosecutions became, for reasons of public policy, funded by the Crown – all successful prosecutions from 1778 onwards being so funded – who employed professional counsel. An innate sense of fair-play prevailed therefore, permitting defence counsel to be present, albeit at the defendant’s own expense. Penurious defendants were obviously at a significant disadvantage.
In the United States
In the United States, while the right to counsel in trials by the federal government was recognized by the US Bill of Rights, the affirmation that this right extended to cases tried by state courts (i. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the In the United States the Bill of Rights is the name by which the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution are known e. most criminal trials, including for crimes such as murder in most cases) came much later. Murder is the unlawful killing of another human person with Malice aforethought, as defined in Common Law countries While some state supreme courts affirmed this right during the 19th century, it was only in the 1963 decision Gideon v. Wainwright that the American Supreme Court affirmed the right for defendants to have counsel in felony trials. Gideon v Wainwright,, is a landmark case in United States Supreme Court history In Common law legal systems a felony is a serious Crime, often contrasted with a Misdemeanor.
As stated in Brewer v. Williams, 430 U. S. 387, the rights granted by 6th and 14th Amendments “mean at least that a person is entitled to the help of a lawyer at or after the time that judicial proceedings have been initiated against him, whether by formal charge, preliminary hearing, indictment, information, or arraignment. ” 430 U. S. at 398. Brewer goes on to conclude that once adversary proceeding have begun against a defendant, he has a right to legal representation when the government interrogates him. 430 U. S. at 401, citing Massiah v. United States, 377 U. S. 201.
In Louisiana, the state Supreme Court has discussed at what point the right to counsel attached under the state and federal constitutions in State v. Hattaway, 621 So. 2d 796 (La. 1993). In this case, the Court repeated the Brewer condition that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel attaches after the commencement of adverse judicial criminal proceedings, and that the right exists only during pre-trial confrontations that can be considered "critical stages" during adverse judicial criminal proceedings. 621 So. 2d at 801. No clear definition of a critical stage was given, but interrogation of a defendant by police officers was offered as an example of a critical stage in that case.
Some states extend the right to counsel to all matters where a defendant's liberty interest is threatened. The New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously held that, regardless of whether the proceeding is labeled as civil, criminal, or administrative, if a defendant faces a loss of liberty, she or he is entitled to appointed counsel if indigent. Anne Pasqua, et al v. Hon. Gerald J. Council, et al, 186 N. J. 127 (2006) (March 2006).
The United States Supreme Court has held in Brewer v. Williams, 430 U. S. 387, 399 (1977) that when a defendant is arrested, "arraigned on [an arrest] warrant before a judge," and "committed by the court to confinement," "[t]here can be no doubt . that judicial proceedings ha[ve] been initiated. " and the the Sixth Amendment right to counsel has attached. (ROTHGERY v. GILLESPIE COUNTY, TX, Certiorari Granted: 12/3/07, Docket No. 07-440. )[1]
See also
In the United States, the Miranda warning is a Warning given by Police to criminal Suspects in police custody or in a custodial situation before Criminal justice is the system of practices and organizations used by national and local governments directed at maintaining Social control, deterringDapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic