Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Legal Aid in Contempt of Court Proceedings (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 1994 and shall come into force on 5th May 1994.

Interpretation

2. In these Regulations-�

"the Act" means the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986;

"the principal Regulations" means the Legal Aid in Contempt of Court Proceedings (Scotland) Regulations 1992((2)).

Application

3. These Regulations shall apply only in relation to any case where an application for legal aid under section 30 of the Act((3)) is granted on or after 5th May 1994.

Amendment of the principal Regulations

4. In regulation 2 of the principal Regulations (interpretation)-�

(a)at the beginning there shall be inserted "(1)";

(b)for the definitions of "counsel" and "junior counsel", there shall be substituted-�

""counsel" includes a solicitor-advocate;

"junior counsel" includes a junior solicitor-advocate;"; and

(c)for the definition of "rights of audience solicitor" to the end, there shall be substituted-�

""right of audience" means, in relation to a solicitor, a right of audience in, on the one hand, the Court of Session, the House of Lords and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council or, on the other hand, the High Court of Justiciary, which a solicitor has by virtue of section 25A (rights of audience in specified courts) of the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980((4));

"senior counsel" includes a senior solicitor-advocate, except in paragraph (2) below;

"solicitor-advocate" means a solicitor, whether instructed by another solicitor or not, when and only when he is exercising his right of audience or acting in connection with the exercise of such a right and "junior solicitor-advocate" and "senior solicitor-advocate"shall be construed in accordance with paragraph (2) below;

• and, unless the context otherwise requires, any reference in these Regulations to a solicitor shall not include a solicitor when acting as a solicitor-advocate.

(2) For the purposes of these Regulations, a solicitor-advocate shall be-�

(a)a senior solicitor-advocate, where he is undertaking work equivalent to that which would be done by a senior counsel in a case where the Board has authorised the employment of senior counsel under regulation 7(1)(a) or (2) below;

(b)a junior solicitor-advocate, where he is undertaking work equivalent to that which would be done by a junior counsel, whether or not the Board has authorised the employment of senior counsel in the case.".

Revocation

5. The Legal Aid in Contempt of Court Proceedings (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 1993((5)) are hereby revoked.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations substitute in the Legal Aid in Contempt of Court Proceedings (Scotland) Regulations 1992 new definitions relating to solicitors who have a right of audience in the Court of Session, the House of Lords and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council or in the High Court of Justiciary.

The Legal Aid in Contempt of Court Proceedings (Scotland) Regulations 1993 (S.I. 1993/528) which inserted defective definitions relating to such solicitors are revoked.