Right to Legal Aid
Definition
The entitlement of an accused person who cannot afford a lawyer to receive one at state expense, recognised as essential to a fair hearing rather than a courtesy.
Related terms
- Habeas Corpus
- A writ requiring whoever holds a person in custody to bring that person before a court and justify the detention, the primary...
- Custodial Rights
- The set of protections owed to a person once police take them into physical custody, including protection from violence, timely medical examination...
- Exclusionary Rule
- A rule that evidence obtained in violation of constitutional or statutory search-and-seizure requirements cannot be used at trial. Applied strictly and automatically...
- Fair Trial
- The bundle of procedural guarantees, including an independent tribunal, adequate notice of the charge, and a genuine opportunity to answer it, that...
- Judicial Precedent
- A prior court decision that binds later courts of equal or lower rank when facts are materially similar, giving a single ruling...
- Presumption of Innocence
- The rule that the prosecution carries the burden of proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt and the accused is treated as innocent until...
- Prohibition of Torture
- An absolute, non-derogable rule barring torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of any person in custody, with no exception for the...
- Right Against Self-Incrimination
- The protection against being compelled to be a witness against oneself, most often invoked to bar coerced confessions and compelled testimony.
- Right to Speedy Trial
- The guarantee that a criminal case will be tried within a reasonable time, so that pre-trial detention does not itself become a...
- D.K. Basu Guidelines
- Eleven requirements for arrest and detention issued by the Supreme Court in D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal to prevent custodial...
- Miranda Warning
- The statement of rights that US police must deliver to a suspect before custodial interrogation, required by the Supreme Court's 1966 decision...
- Nelson Mandela Rules
- The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, revised and renamed by the UN General Assembly in December 2015,...
Explained in these topics
- Human Rights of Accused, Victims and Prisoners (UGC-NET Unit V)The entitlement of an accused person who cannot afford a lawyer to receive one at state expense, treated as essential to a fair hearing.
- Human Rights of the Accused and of Persons in Custody
- Landmark Judgments on Criminal Justice Reforms (NET Unit V)The guarantee that an indigent accused is entitled to a state-funded lawyer, since an unrepresented poor accused cannot meaningfully exercise a fair trial.
- Landmark Judgments That Reshaped Criminal JusticeThe guarantee that a person facing criminal charges receives competent legal representation regardless of ability to pay, usually at state expense.