Does the provision of legal aid services to certain accused and the availability of Rowbotham-type applications exist?

Counsel for the Attorney General of British Columbia points out that the provision of legal aid services to certain accused and the availability of court applications – Rowbotham-type applications – do not exist because there is a constitutional mandate for the state to fund counsel. Rather, they exist to ensure that the right of an indigent accused to a fair trial is not merely illusory. Black J. put it this way in Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963) at 344: The right of one charged with crime to counsel may not be deemed fundamental and essential to fair trials in some nations, but it is in ours. From the very beginning, our state and national constitutions and laws have laid great emphasis on procedural and substantive safeguards designed to assure fair trials before impartial tribunals in which every defendant stands equal before the law. This noble idea cannot be realized if the poor man charged with crime has to face his accusers without a lawyer to assist him.