Who may apply to a judge for permission to inspect or copy the documents and evidence relating to a disposition made under the provision in question, and in what capacity?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file of this kind we read the written application, which should name the judge it is made to and the disposition papers and evidence it seeks, and any paper showing the applicant's status: the victim's legal representative appointment, an authorisation from the victim or the victim's legal representative, or a record of the victim's death or serious disability where a family member applies.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the list in the provision at face value: the victim, and where the victim has died or suffers a serious disability of mind or body, the victim's spouse, lineal relatives and siblings fall within 'victim', and the victim's legal representative, or a spouse, lineal relative, sibling or lawyer authorised by them, may apply to a judge for permission to inspect or copy the documents and evidence relating to a disposition under the provision in question.
Another reading stresses what this provision grants and what it borrows: only an application to the judge for such permission, with the rules on permission applied by reference to the substitution paragraph, which swaps in the documents and evidence relating to a disposition for the record, the judge for the presiding judge, and the circumstances of investigation and trial for the circumstances of the hearing, so the provision does not say the judge must grant permission, how far copying extends, or what may be done with copies afterwards.
Your judgment
Where an applicant relies on the victim's death or serious disability, which papers in the file could show that condition and that the applicant falls within the listed group?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to change which relatives of the victim may apply or what the judge must weigh, or if a court decision interprets the borrowed provisions on permission for inspection or copying.