Attorney-General

(1) The Attorney-General shall be the principal legal adviser to the Government. 56 (2) The office of Attorney-General shall be the office of a Minister, with responsibility for the administration of legal affairs in Belize. (3) No person shall be qualified to hold the office of Attorney-General unless he is a person who has for at least five years been entitled to practice as an advocate in a court having unlimited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters in some part of the Commonwealth or in the Republic of Ireland or a court having jurisdiction in appeals from any such court. (4) If a person holding the office of Attorney-General is for any reason unable to perform the functions conferred on him by or under any law, those functions may be performed by such other person, being a person qualified as aforesaid (whether or not that person is a member of either House of the National Assembly), as the Governor-General, acting in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister, may direct. (5) Legal proceedings for or against the State shall be taken, in the case of civil proceedings, in the name of the Attorney-General and, in the case of criminal proceedings, in the name of the Crown.