The mission of the Attorney General`s Office is to provide governments, ministries and offices with the highest professional legal services. The Minister of Justice, known as the Attorney General before the transfer of sovereignty in 1997, is the legal adviser to the Hong Kong government and heads the Ministry of Justice. They are assisted by five judicial officers, namely: The Attorney General is Pennsylvania`s highest law enforcement official with a wide range of responsibilities to protect and serve the citizens and authorities of the Commonwealth. The Attorney General is supervised by several hundred prosecutors, lawyers, investigators, agents and auxiliaries in offices throughout the State, divided into four divisions: the Criminal Law Division, the Public Protection Division, the Civil Division and the Operations Division. The term was originally used to refer to anyone who has a general power of attorney to represent a client in all matters. In the common law tradition, anyone representing the state, particularly in the area of law enforcement, is such an advocate. Although a Government could appoint an official as a permanent Attorney General, any person who represented the State in the same way could be designated as such in the past, if only for a specific case. Today, however, the term is widely reserved in most jurisdictions as the title of permanently appointed attorney general of the state, sovereign or any other member of the royal family. Since the enactment of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1974, responsibility for the prosecution of criminal offences has largely rested with the Director of Public Prosecutions, who by law is independent of the Attorney General and the State. The current Attorney General is Paul Gallagher, SC.
The first type of public prosecutor (“advocaat-generaal” in Dutch) is the prosecutor in criminal cases before the courts of appeal. As part of recent constitutional reforms, the Lord Advocate has become an official of the Scottish Government, while the British Government is advised on Scottish law by the Advocate General for Scotland. In New Zealand, the Attorney General is the chief legal adviser and principal legal adviser to the New Zealand government. [10] The Attorney General is the minister responsible for the Crown Law Office, the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and the Office of Major Fraud. [10] Historically, the office could be held by either a politician or a high-ranking lawyer, but today it is invariably held by a Member of Parliament. The Attorney General is a member of cabinet, but the position is not the same as the Minister of Justice. Traditionally, appointees as attorneys general have been lawyers. Only two former attorneys general were not lawyers, most recently Dr.
Michael Cullen, who held the position in 2005 and again in 2006. In Australia, the Attorney General is the Chief Crown Magistrate and a member of the Cabinet. The Attorney General is the Minister responsible for Legal Affairs, National and Public Security and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. Christian Porter is the current Attorney General. Australian states each have separate Attorneys General, who are Ministers of State with similar responsibilities to the Federal Minister with respect to state law. Episodes explore the Attorney General`s role in working with legislators, consumer protection, antitrust enforcement, criminal justice, protecting vulnerable populations, and more! The Attorney General of Canada (French: Procureur général du Canada) is a separate title from the Minister of Justice of Canada. The Minister of Justice deals with political issues and their relationship with the judiciary. In their role as Attorney General, they are the Chief Magistrates of the Crown. The Attorney General of the Philippines was an office that existed from 1901 until 1932, when the office was abolished and its functions were taken over by the Attorney General.
Since then, the Attorney General of the Philippines, previously the second judicial official, has been the most important jurist and legal advocate of the Philippine government. The Office of the Solicitor General is the law firm of the Republic of the Philippines. Its task is to represent the Philippines, the Philippine government and all its officials in any litigation or matter requiring the services of a lawyer, particularly before the courts of appeal. [11] It is an independent and autonomous office attached to the Department of Justice for budgetary purposes. [12] The Attorney General of Ireland is the legal adviser to the government and thus the chief magistrate of the State. The Attorney General`s Office consists of a number of different offices: Attorney General Merrick B. Garland was sworn in as the 86th Attorney General of the United States on March 11, 2021. As the nation`s top law enforcement official, Attorney General Garland leads the 115,000 Justice Department employees who work in the United States and more than 50 countries around the world. Under his leadership, the Department of Justice is dedicated to upholding the rule of law, keeping our country safe, and protecting the civil rights of all Americans.
Dutch attorneys general do not normally advise the government. [ref. needed] Although the role of the Attorney General varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction due to statutory and constitutional mandates, it generally includes: In the Netherlands, there are two types of attorneys general, which are only historically linked. The prosecutor (ríkislögmaður) represents the State in civil proceedings. The prosecutor is appointed by the Prime Minister for a period of 5 years and must have the same qualifications required to serve as a judge of the Supreme Court. The Attorney General (ríkissaksóknari) represents the State in criminal proceedings and is appointed by the Minister of Justice for an indefinite period. The Minister of Justice supervises the judiciary, the Public Prosecutor`s Office, the police, the penitentiary system, etc. Individual U.S. states and territories, as well as the District of Washington, D.C., also have attorneys general with similar functions.
The majority of attorneys general are elected by popular vote, unlike the U.S. attorney general, who is confirmed by the Senate. For the Attorneys General of the various states and territories of Australia, see: Keli M. Neary is the Deputy Attorney General responsible for the Civil Law Division, overseeing the work of approximately 120 lawyers and support staff. The Civil Law Division consists of six sections: Appeals, Civil Procedure, Financial Enforcement, Legal Review, Tax Disputes and Tort Litigation. Among other things, departmental lawyers defend the constitutionality of state laws, represent Commonwealth authorities and employees in civil lawsuits, collect defaulting taxes and other debts owed to the Commonwealth, and review all state treaties and regulations for legality. In the U.S. federal government, the Attorney General is a member of the Cabinet and, as head of the Department of Justice, the Chief Law Enforcement Officer and the Government Attorney.
It may be necessary to distinguish the Attorney General from the Attorney General, a senior official in the Department of Justice responsible for representing the government before the Supreme Court. However, in cases of exceptional importance, the Attorney General may decide to personally represent the government before the Supreme Court. In almost every jurisdiction in the United States, the Attorney General is the law enforcement officer for that jurisdiction, and as such, the Attorney General can also be considered a police rank. The correct form of the address to a person occupying the office is addressed to the Attorney General or simply as Attorney General. The plural is “Attorneys General” or “Attorneys-General”. Non-common law jurisdictions generally have one or more offices similar to the Attorneys General in common law jurisdictions, some of which use “attorney-general” as the English translation of their titles. In most common law jurisdictions, the Attorney General or Attorney General (sometimes abbreviated as Attorney General) is the government`s principal legal adviser. The plural is attorneys general. [1] In some jurisdictions, Attorneys General also have executive responsibility for law enforcement, law enforcement, or even responsibility for legal affairs generally.
In practice, the extent to which the Attorney General personally provides legal advice to the government varies from province or territory to territory and even from a public office holder in the same jurisdiction, often depending on the level and nature of the office-holder`s previous legal experience. While the Attorney General has ministerial responsibility for legal affairs in general (such as, for example, the Attorney General of the United States or the Attorney General of Australia and the respective State Attorneys General in each country), the ministerial portfolio is broadly the same as that of an Attorney General in some other countries. The People`s Lawyer is a bimonthly NAAG podcast that explores the role of state and territory attorneys general as legal directors and their work to protect the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution. Attorneys General and the federal government are responsible, among other things, for selecting appointees and approving prosecutions. Under normal circumstances, the powers of the Attorney General are exercised by the Head of Public Prosecution Service and staff; However, the Attorney General retains formal control, including the power to initiate and terminate public prosecutions and private charges.