Australian Capital Territory
Law Officer Act 1992 (repealed)    
A1992-54
Republication No 7
Effective:  31 August 2011
Republication date: 31 August 2011
As repealed by A2011-30 s 35

Unauthorised version prepared by ACT Parliamentary Counsel’s Office

About this republication
The republished law
This is a republication of the Law Officer Act 1992 (repealed) (including any amendment made under the Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3 (Editorial changes)).  It also includes any commencement, amendment, repeal or expiry affecting this republished law to 31 August 2011.  
The legislation history and amendment history of the republished law are set out in endnotes 3 and 4. 
Kinds of republications
The Parliamentary Counsel’s Office prepares 2 kinds of republications of ACT laws (see the ACT legislation register at www.legislation.act.gov.au):
•	authorised republications to which the Legislation Act 2001 applies
•	unauthorised republications.
The status of this republication appears on the bottom of each page.
Editorial changes
The Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3 authorises the Parliamentary Counsel to make editorial amendments and other changes of a formal nature when preparing a law for republication.  Editorial changes do not change the effect of the law, but have effect as if they had been made by an Act commencing on the republication date (see Legislation Act 2001, s 115 and s 117).  The changes are made if the Parliamentary Counsel considers they are desirable to bring the law into line, or more closely into line, with current legislative drafting practice.  
This republication does not include amendments made under part 11.3 (see endnote 1).
Uncommenced provisions and amendments
If a provision of the republished law has not commenced, the symbol  U  appears immediately before the provision heading.  Any uncommenced amendments that affect this republished law are accessible on the ACT legislation register (www.legislation.act.gov.au). For more information, see the home page for this law on the register.
Modifications
If a provision of the republished law is affected by a current modification, the symbol  M  appears immediately before the provision heading.  The text of the modifying provision appears in the endnotes.  For the legal status of modifications, see the Legislation Act 2001, section 95.
Penalties
At the republication date, the value of a penalty unit for an offence against this law is $110 for an individual and $550 for a corporation (see Legislation Act 2001, s 133).

Australian Capital Territory
Law Officer Act 1992 (repealed)

Contents
	Page
	1	Name of Act	2
	2	Dictionary	2
	2A	Notes	2
	3	Position of Attorney-General	2
	4	Functions of Attorney-General	2
	5	Additional functions of Attorney-General	3
	5A	Effect of Attorney-General’s functions on certain litigation	3
	5AA	Model litigant guidelines	4
	5AB	Protection from liability	4
	5AC	Reporting on model litigant guidelines	4
	5B	Judicial notice of Attorney-General’s appointment etc	5
	6	Regulation-making power	5
Dictionary		6
Endnotes
	1	About the endnotes	7
	2	Abbreviation key	7
	3	Legislation history	8
	4	Amendment history	9
	5	Earlier republications	10

Australian Capital Territory
Law Officer Act 1992 (repealed)

An Act relating to the functions and powers of the Attorney-General, and for related purposes

    

1	Name of Act
This Act is the Law Officer Act 1992.
2	Dictionary
The dictionary at the end of this Act is part of this Act.
Note 1	The dictionary at the end of this Act defines certain terms used in this Act.
Note 2	A definition in the dictionary applies to the entire Act unless the definition, or another provision of the Act, provides otherwise or the contrary intention otherwise appears (see Legislation Act, s 155 and s 156 (1)).
2A	Notes
A note included in this Act is explanatory and is not part of this Act.
Note	See the Legislation Act s 127 (1), (4) and (5) for the legal status of notes.
3	Position of Attorney-General
The Attorney-General is the first law officer of the Territory.
4	Functions of Attorney-General
The functions of the Attorney-General are—
	(a)	to be the chief legal representative of—
	(i)	the Crown in right of the Territory; and
	(ii)	the Territory;
	(b)	to be the principal legal adviser to the Territory; and
	(c)	to have responsibility for the administration of law and justice in the ACT; and
	(d)	to institute and conduct litigation on behalf of—
	(i)	the Crown in right of the Territory; or
	(ii)	the Territory; or
	(iii)	a Minister; or
	(iv)	a person suing or being sued on behalf of the Territory; and
	(e)	to ensure that litigation mentioned in paragraph (d) is started and conducted in accordance with proper standards; and
	(f)	to exercise any function given to the Attorney-General under another Act; and 
	(g)	to exercise any other function prescribed by regulation.
Note	A provision of a law that gives an entity (including a person) a function also gives the entity powers necessary and convenient to exercise the function (see Legislation Act, s 196 and dict, pt 1, def entity).
5	Additional functions of Attorney-General
The Attorney-General also has, in relation to the Territory, the traditional functions, prerogatives and privileges of State Attorneys‑General, subject to this Act and any other Territory law.
5A	Effect of Attorney-General’s functions on certain litigation
To remove any doubt, the functions of the Attorney-General, including the traditional functions, prerogatives and privileges of State Attorneys-General, do not prevent, and are taken never to have prevented, a person authorised by the Territory, or under a Territory law, from instituting or conducting litigation mentioned in section 4 (d) (Functions of Attorney-General).
5AA	Model litigant guidelines
	(1)	The Attorney-General must issue model litigant guidelines to ensure that proper standards in litigation apply to Territory legal work.
	(2)	A guideline issued under subsection (1) is a notifiable instrument. 
Note	A notifiable instrument must be notified under the Legislation Act.
	(3)	Anyone performing Territory legal work must comply with the model litigant guidelines.
	(4)	The model litigant guidelines may be enforced only by, or on the application of, the Attorney-General.
	(5)	The issue of non-compliance with the model litigant guidelines may not be raised in a proceeding (whether in a court, tribunal or other body) except by or on behalf of the Territory.
5AB	Protection from liability
	(1)	A person performing Territory legal work is not personally liable for anything done, or omitted to be done, honestly and without recklessness—
	(a)	in complying with a model litigant guideline; or
	(b)	in the reasonable belief that the act or omission complied with a model litigant guideline.
	(2)	Any civil liability that would, apart from this section, attach to a person attaches instead to the Territory.
5AC	Reporting on model litigant guidelines
	(1)	Each report prepared by the director‑general under the Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act 2004 must—
	(a)	describe the measures taken by the administrative unit during the financial year to ensure compliance with the model litigant guidelines; and 
	(b)	provide information concerning any breaches of the model litigant guidelines during the financial year.
	(2)	Each director‑general (other than the JACS director‑general) must—
	(a)	prepare a report setting out the matters mentioned in subsection (1) (a) and (b) for the administrative unit; and
	(b)	give the report to the JACS director‑general not later than 21 days after the end of the financial year.
	(3)	The report prepared by the JACS director‑general under subsection (1) must include a summary of each report given to the director‑general under subsection (2) for the relevant financial year. 
	(4)	In this section:
JACS director‑general means the director‑general of the administrative unit responsible for this Act.
5B	Judicial notice of Attorney-General’s appointment etc 
	(1)	In any legal proceeding, a document apparently signed by the Attorney-General is presumed to have been signed by the Attorney-General in the absence of evidence to the contrary.
	(2)	The instrument by which the Attorney-General is so designated must, on production to the Supreme Court, be noted in the records of the court.
	(3)	No action, proceeding or matter (whether civil or criminal) by or against the Attorney-General abates or is affected by any change of office holder. 
6	Regulation-making power
The Executive may make regulations for this Act.
Note	Regulations must be notified, and presented to the Legislative Assembly, under the Legislation Act 2001.

Dictionary
(see s 2)
Note 1	The Legislation Act contains definitions and other provisions relevant to this Act.
Note 2	For example, the Legislation Act, dict, pt 1, defines the following terms:
·	Attorney-General
·	director‑general (see s 163)
·	document
·	Executive
·	exercise
·	function
·	instrument (see s 14)
·	Supreme Court
·	the Territory.
Attorney-General includes, if no Minister is designated Attorney‑General by the Chief Minister, the Minister for the time being administering this Act.
model litigant guidelines means the guidelines issued under section 5AA (1) (Model litigant guidelines).
Territory legal work means legal work associated with litigation conducted by a person for any of the following:
	(a)	the Territory;
	(b)	a body established by a law of the Territory; 
	(c)	a company in which the Territory has a controlling interest. 

Endnotes
1	About the endnotes
Amending and modifying laws are annotated in the legislation history and the amendment history.  Current modifications are not included in the republished law but are set out in the endnotes.
Not all editorial amendments made under the Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3 are annotated in the amendment history.  Full details of any amendments can be obtained from the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office.
Uncommenced amending laws and expiries are listed in the legislation history and the amendment history.  These details are underlined.  Uncommenced provisions and amendments are not included in the republished law but are set out in the last endnote.
If all the provisions of the law have been renumbered, a table of renumbered provisions gives details of previous and current numbering.  
The endnotes also include a table of earlier republications.
2	Abbreviation key

A = Act	NI = Notifiable instrument	
AF = Approved form	o = order	
am = amended	om = omitted/repealed	
amdt = amendment	ord = ordinance	
AR = Assembly resolution	orig = original	
ch = chapter	par = paragraph/subparagraph	
CN = Commencement notice	pres = present	
def = definition	prev = previous	
DI = Disallowable instrument	(prev...) = previously	
dict = dictionary	pt = part	
disallowed = disallowed by the Legislative 	r = rule/subrule	
Assembly	reloc = relocated	
div = division	renum = renumbered	
exp = expires/expired	R[X] = Republication No	
Gaz = gazette	RI = reissue	
hdg = heading	s = section/subsection	
IA = Interpretation Act 1967	sch = schedule	
ins = inserted/added	sdiv = subdivision	
LA = Legislation Act 2001	SL = Subordinate law	
LR = legislation register	sub = substituted	
LRA = Legislation (Republication) Act 1996	underlining = whole or part not commenced	
mod = modified/modification	or to be expired	
3	Legislation history
After 11 May 1989 and before 10 November 1999, Acts commenced on their notification day unless otherwise stated (see Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 (Cwlth) s 25).
Law Officer Act 1992 No 54
notified 25 September 1992 (Gaz 1992 No S162)
commenced 25 September 1992
as amended by
Legislation (Consequential Amendments) Act 2001 No 44 pt 214
notified 26 July 2001 (Gaz 2001 No 30)
s 1, s 2 commenced 26 July 2001 (IA s 10B)
pt 214 commenced 12 September 2001 (s 2 and see Gaz 2001 No S65)
Justice and Community Safety Legislation Amendment Act 2003 A2003-2 pt 10
notified LR 3 March 2003
s 1, s 2 commenced 3 March 2003 (LA s 75 (1))
pt 10 commenced 31 March 2003 (s 2 (2))
Court Procedures (Consequential Amendments) Act 2004 A2004-60 amdt 1.131
notified LR 2 September 2004
s 1, s 2 commenced 2 September 2004 (LA s 75 (1))
amdt 1.131 commenced 10 January 2005 (s 2 and see Court Procedures Act 2004 A2004-59, s 2 and CN2004-29)
Statute Law Amendment Act 2007 A2007-3 sch 3 pt 3.56
notified LR 22 March 2007
s 1, s 2 taken to have commenced 1 July 2006 (LA s 75 (2))
sch 3 pt 3.56 commenced 12 April 2007 (s 2 (1))
Law Officer Amendment Act 2009 A2009-21
notified LR 2 September 2009
s 1, s 2 commenced 2 September 2009 (LA s 75 (1))
remainder commenced 3 September 2009 (s 2)
Administrative (One ACT Public Service Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2011 A2011-22 sch 1 pt 1.90
notified LR 30 June 2011
s 1, s 2 commenced 30 June 2011 (LA s 75 (1))
sch 1 pt 1.90 commenced 1 July 2011 (s 2 (1))
as repealed by
Law Officers Act 2011 A2011-30 s 35
notified LR 29 August 2011
s 1, s 2 commenced 29 August 2011 (LA s 75 (1))
s 35 commenced 31 August 2011 (s 2 and CN2011-9)
4	Amendment history
Dictionary
s 2	sub A2007-3 amdt 3.313
Notes
s 2A	ins A2007-3 amdt 3.313
Functions of Attorney-General
s 4 hdg	sub A2003-2 s 52
s 4	am A2003-2 s 53, s 54; A2009-21 s 4
Additional functions of Attorney-General
s 5	sub A2003-2 s 55
Effect of Attorney-General’s functions on certain litigation
s 5A	ins A2003-2 s 55
Model litigant guidelines
s 5AA	ins A2009-21 s 5
Protection from liability
s 5AB	ins A2009-21 s 5
Reporting on model litigant guidelines
s 5AC	ins A2009-21 s 5
	am A2011-22 amdt 1.272, amdt 1.273
Judicial notice of Attorney-General’s appointment etc
s 5B	reloc from Crown Proceedings Act 1992 s 18 by A2004‑60 amdt 1.131
Regulation-making power
s 6	sub 2001 No 44 amdt 1.2608
Amendment of Legal Practitioners Act 1970
s 7	om 2001 No 44 amdt 1.2608
Regulations
s 8	om 2001 No 44 amdt 1.2608
Dictionary
dict	ins A2007-3 amdt 3.314
	am A2011-22 amdt 1.274
	def Attorney-General ins A2007-3 amdt 3.314
	def model litigant guidelines ins A2009-21 s 6
	def Territory legal work ins A2009-21 s 6
5	Earlier republications
Some earlier republications were not numbered. The number in column 1 refers to the publication order.  
Since 12 September 2001 every authorised republication has been published in electronic pdf format on the ACT legislation register.  A selection of authorised republications have also been published in printed format. These republications are marked with an asterisk (*) in column 1.  Electronic and printed versions of an authorised republication are identical. 

Republication No	Amendments to	Republication date	
1	A2001-44	13 June 2002	
2	A2003-2	31 March 2003	
3	A2004-60	10 January 2005	
4	A2007-3	12 April 2007	
5	A2009-21	3 September 2009	
6	A2011-22	1 July 2011	

©  Australian Capital Territory 2011