- Law Officers of the Crown
The Law Officers of the Crown are the chief legal advisors to the Crown, and advise and represent the various governments in the
United Kingdom and the otherCommonwealth Realm s. InEngland and Wales , and most Commonwealth and colonial governments, the Law Officer of the Crown is theAttorney General . InScotland , the Law Officer is theLord Advocate , but a new position ofAdvocate General for Scotland was created followingdevolution to theScottish Parliament .England and Wales
The
Attorney General for England and Wales is the chief legal adviser of the Crown in England and Wales and a member of theGovernment . The Attorney General, with the assistance of the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers provides legal advice to theGovernment of the day. By convention, this legal advice is available to subsequent governments, unlike the papers of other ministers.The current Attorney General is Baroness Scotland PC, QC. She is assisted by the
Solicitor General for England and Wales , currentlyVera Baird MP QC. Under theLaw Officers Act 1997 , the Solicitor General may do anything on behalf of, or in the place of, the Attorney General and vice versa.The Attorney General has responsibility for the
Treasury Solicitor's Department (and theTreasury Solicitor acts on behalf of the Attorney General when representation in court is required). He has supervisory powers over prosecutions, including theCrown Prosecution Service (headed by theDirector of Public Prosecutions ), the Serious Fraud Office and theRevenue and Customs Prosecutions Office .The Attorney General has public interest functions: for example, he is the
trustee of default where a sole trustee has died, and can also take cases to theLaw Lords where points of general legal importance need to be settled.Under the
Government of Wales Act 2006 , theCounsel General for Wales is the chief legal adviser to theWelsh Assembly Government .cotland
The chief legal adviser in
Scotland is theLord Advocate ,Elish Angiolini .The Lord Advocate heads up the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and is the chief
public prosecutor in Scotland.Under the recent constitutional reforms, the Lord Advocate has become a member of the
Scottish Executive , while theUnited Kingdom Government is advised onScots law by the newly created post ofAdvocate General for Scotland .The Lord Advocate is assisted by the
Solicitor General for Scotland ,Frank Mulholland Northern Ireland
In
1973 the functions of theAttorney General for Northern Ireland were conferred on the Attorney General for England and Wales as part of Direct Rule. When policing and justice is devolved to theNorthern Ireland Assembly , these functions will be split between a new localAttorney General for Northern Ireland and anAdvocate General for Northern Ireland . Some other current functions of theAttorney General for Northern Ireland will be conferred on theDirector of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland .Commonwealth
Most Commonwealth and colonial governments also have their own Attorneys General. Sometimes the legal advisors of sub-national governments are given the title
Advocate General .Other persons
Other persons are entitled to have an attorney general, including a
Queen consort and thePrince of Wales , who has an Attorney General for theDuchy of Cornwall . There is also an attorney general for theDuchy of Lancaster which is owned by themonarch .Defunct offices
Before the establishment of the
Irish Free State in 1922, the legal advisors to the Crown in the Courts of Ireland were theAttorney-General for Ireland and theSolicitor-General for Ireland . These offices were vacant from 1921.The Crown also had a legal advisor for the
High Court of Admiralty . This officer was called theAdmiralty Advocate , and the appointment lapsed in 1875 when the Admiralty Court became part of theProbate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of theHigh Court of Justice .The Crown's representative in the
ecclesiastical courts was the King's Advocate (called Queen's Advocate when the monarch was female). The office has been vacant since the resignation of its last holder in 1872 [Haydn's "Book of Dignities", 1894] .ee also
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United Kingdom budget References
External links
* [http://www.lslo.gov.uk/ Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers]
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