Asistența juridică garantată de stat: drept social, garanție procesuală sau instrument de asigurare a intereselor publice?
State-guaranteed legal aid: social right, procedural guarantee or instrument for safeguarding public interests?

Summary/Abstract: This article explores the legal nature of state-guaranteed legal aid through three main doctrinal perspectives: social rights theory, the human rights framework, and the public-interest approach. It argues that none of these models alone fully captures the complexity of the institution.The social rights perspective views legal aid as a mechanism for addressing structural inequalities in access to justice. Although grounded in principles of equality and solidarity, it makes the scope of legal aid dependent on financial resources and legislative discretion. The human rights approach strengthens its normative status by linking it to the right to a fair trial and effective access to court. Yet within this framework, legal aid often retains a derivative character, serving primarily as a tool to ensure procedural guarantees.The public-interest perspective emphasizes the institutional function of legal aid in maintaining the fairness and legitimacy of judicial proceedings. It explains the rationale for mandatory legal representation in cases where professional assistance is essential to the proper administration of justice.The article proposes a three-level model in which state-guaranteed legal aid operates simultaneously as a social right, a procedural guarantee, and a safeguard of the public interest, thereby offering a more coherent conceptual foundation.

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