Histories of Legal Aid: A Comparative and International Perspective (World Histories of Crime, Culture and Violence)

This book focuses on the history of the provision of legal aid and legal assistance to the poor in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in eight different countries. It is the first such book to bring together historical work on legal aid in a comparative perspective, and allows readers to analogise and contrast historical narratives about free legal aid across countries. Legal aid developed as a result of industrialisation, urbanization, immigration, the rise of philanthropy, and what were viewed as new legal problems. Closely related, was the growing professionalisation of lawyers and the question of what duties lawyers owed society to perform free work. Yet, legal aid providers in many countries included lay women and men, leading at times to tensions with the bar. Furthermore, legal aid often became deeply politicized, creating dramatic conflicts concerning the rights of the poor to have equal access to justice. Felice Batlan is Professor of Law and affiliated Professor of the Humanities at IIT Chicago-Kent, USA. She is the author of the award-winning Women and Justice for the Poor: A History of Legal Aid, 1863-1945 (2015). Her research focuses on the legal history of women and gender in the U.S. and internationally. Marianne Vasara-Aaltonen is University Lecturer in Legal History at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She is the author of Learning Law and Travelling Europe: Study Journeys and the Developing Swedish Legal Profession (2020), and several articles on the history of legal education, the legal profession, and the courts Acknowledgements Praise for Histories of Legal Aid Contents Notes on Contributors List of Figures List of Tables Introduction: Understanding the History of Legal Aid in an International and Comparative Perspective Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Legal Aid The Origins of Legal Aid Legal Aid in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries From National Historiography to a Comparative View A Shift of Perspective Legal Aid, Politics, and Society Legal Aid and the Legal Profession Conclusion Bibliography Printed Sources Secondary Literature Part I: Grand Histories of Legal Aid The Persistent Question of Legal Aid in the Professional Development of Russian Lawyers Introduction The Roots of Legal Aid in Tsarist Russia The Soviet Experience The Diverse Market of Legal Aid in Today’s Russian Federation Conclusion Bibliography Legislation and Proposed Regulation Online Sources Printed Sources Secondary Literature From pro Deo to pro Pecunia. An Institutional History of Legal Aid in Belgium Introduction The History of the Exemption of Costs of Judicial Proceedings Legal Aid by Lawyers Origins The Offices of Free Consultation in Belgium: A Long Period of Continuity (1832–1967) The Times Are Changing (1967–1980) State-Financed Legal Aid (1980–Present) The Long-Term History of Legal Aid in Belgium Visualised (1841–2016) Conclusion Bibliography Archival Sources Legislation Case Law Printed Sources Online Sources Secondary Literature The Historical Evolution of Legal Aid in China from the Perspective of Globalisation (1890–2003) Introduction The Era of the Late Qing Dynasty (1890–1911) The Era of the Beijing Government (1912–1927) The Period of the Kuomintang Government (1928–1949) The Period of the People’s Republic of China (1949–2003) Discussion and Conclusion Bibliography Printed Sources Online Sources Secondary Literature Part II: Growing Needs and New Providers: Legal Aid at the Fin de Siècle For Workers and for the Disadvantaged: Legal Advice Centres in Germany from the Late Nineteenth Century to the Early Twentieth Century Introduction Background to the Development of Extrajudicial Legal Aid: Industrialisation and Social Legislation The Extrajudicial Legal Aid of the Catholic Church and the Free Trade Unions The Legal Advice Centres of Charitable Organisations and Municipalities Legal Protection Centres for Women Development of Legal Advice and Information for Workers and for Economically and Socially Disadvantaged People The Legal Regulation of Extrajudicial Legal Services Attitudes of Practising Lawyers Regarding Extrajudicial Legal Aid and the Beginning of Professionalisation Conclusion Bibliography Archival Sources Legislation Printed Sources Online Sources Secondary Literature “To Poor and Rich Alike”: Legal Modernisation, the Women’s Movement, and Legal Aid in Late-Nineteenth-Century Finland Introduction Industrialisation, the Growing Working Class, and Philanthropy Legal Modernisation and the Budding Legal Profession in Late-Nineteenth-Century Finland Newspapers and the Legal Aid Question The Finnish Women’s Association Steps Up The Helsinki Poor’s Advocate Conclusion Bibliography Archival Sources Printed Sources Newspapers Secondary Literature Lawyers Providing Legal Aid in Print: Legal Question and Answer Columns in Finnish Newspapers Around 1900 Introduction Background: National Awakening, Finnish-language Newspapers, and Emerging Civil Society Early Development of Legal Question and Answer Columns, 1860s–1880s Regular Legal Question and Answer Columns, 1890s and Beyond Actor Perspective: The Experts What Kind of Legal Questions Were Being Asked Actor Perspective: The Inquirers Actor Perspective: The Newspapers Conclusion Bibliography Printed Sources Newspapers and Periodicals Secondary Literature Part III: Politics, Memory, and the Writing of History The Organisation of l’Assistance Judiciaire, the Politics of Poverty, and the Rewriting of History in Nineteenth-Century France Introduction The Question of Legal Aid in the Mid-nineteenth Century L’assistance judiciaire Under the Third Republic Conclusion: The Haunting of L’assistance Judiciaire and the Future of Legal Aid Bibliography Printed Sources Secondary Literature Training and Disciplining Lawyers Through Legal Aid: Chile, 1932–1960s Introduction Legal Aid and the Bar, from Symbiosis to Parasitism Training and Disciplining Lawyers Through Legal Aid Law Interns: Training Future Lawyers Disciplining Abogados de Turno Epilogue: The Crisis of Legal Aid and the Demise of the Chilean Bar Association Bibliography Archival Sources Interviews Printed Sources Legislation Secondary Literature Archival Confrontations and Rewriting the History of Legal Aid in the U.S. The Standard Narratives and Assumptions about Legal Aid in the U.S. Confronting the Archives, Disciplines, and Ourselves Piecing Together Stories: The New York Legal Aid Society The Search for Women’s Organisations and Lay Lawyers Finding the Smoking Gun: Deleting Women from the History of Legal Aid Confronting Opposition Absences and Fantasies for the Future Bibliography Archival Sources Printed Sources Online Sources Secondary Literature Index "This book focuses on the history of the provision of legal aid and legal assistance to the poor in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in eight different countries. It is the first such book to bring together historical work on legal aid in a comparative perspective, and allows readers to analogise and contrast historical narratives about free legal aid across countries. Legal aid developed as a result of industrialisation, urbanization, immigration, the rise of philanthropy, and what were viewed as new legal problems. Closely related, was the growing professionalisation of lawyers and the question of what duties lawyers owed society to perform free work. Yet, legal aid providers in many countries included lay women and men, leading at times to tensions with the bar. Furthermore, legal aid often became deeply politicized, creating dramatic conflicts concerning the rights of the poor to have equal access to justice"-- Publisher's website