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Professor David Garland, one of the world’s most influential criminologists, was awarded an honorary doctor of laws by the University of Edinburgh on Tuesday, in recognition of his contributions to the study of punishment and social regulation. An Edinburgh Law School graduate, Professor Garla

Threats against US judges have surged in 2025, with more than 370 incidents in the first five months alone.

A tribunal has dismissed a claim for damages following a dog bite because "every dog is entitled to one bite". The ruling from a civil tribunal in British Columbia, Canada has brought international attention to the so-called "one bite rule".

A prison officer who believed he was sending sexual messages to a child on a social media messaging app has been sentenced. Peter Sugden, of Falkirk, began communicating with the Kik profile on 11 June 2024 and was told it belonged to a 13-year-old girl from Essex. 

The growing popularity of self-builds and owner-managed conversions and renovations, perhaps fuelled by the popularity of Grand Designs and other such programmes, puts an additional potential responsibility on conveyancers when acting for purchasers of such properties and this is becoming a growing

Ledingham Chalmers has promoted 11 legal professionals across its Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Inverness offices in one of its largest-ever promotion rounds. Five lawyers — Edinburgh-based litigation lawyers Laila Kennedy and Mitchell Bell, and Aberdeen-based commercial property lawyer Taylor Morri

A former residential social worker who physically and sexually abused boys at an East Lothian children’s home has been jailed for two years and six months. Peter Livingstone was found guilty of six charges on 14 February 2025 following a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. The 67-year-old was em

A ban on flying "foreign flags" on flagpoles has come into effect in Denmark. As of 1 January 2025, the only flags that can lawfully be raised are those of Denmark and its autonomous territories, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, as well as the other Nordic countries, neighbouring Germany and interna

Two lynx illegally released into the Scottish Highlands in an apparent bid to reintroduce the big cats to the region, hundreds of years after they were driven to extinction, have been captured.

In the second part of his analysis of the Lockerbie case, Ronnie Clancy KC, who was Crown counsel in the appeals, looks at the issues surrounding the timer used for the bomb and the famous suitcase. Read part one here. As matters stand in the aftermath of the latest Lockerbie appeal, the most promin

In part two of his series on dysfunction in our health system, David J Black reminds us that the cost of bad medicine is people's lives. Read part one here. It is one of those facts which cries out to be universally acknowledged: when it came to understanding the nature of such illnesses as ME/CFS,

Scottish Lesbians has published its intervention submission ahead of the Supreme Court appeal case of For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers. The case, regarding the Scottish government’s definition of ‘women’ for the purposes of the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotlan

Compass Chambers is delighted to have once again been recognised as a leading set by Chambers UK in the latest edition of the directory which was published yesterday. Compass has received 52 individual rankings in 6 practice area categories. Compass is also ranked Band 1 as a set in 5 categories &nd

Taste there is none, notes David J Black in part two of his look at films in Scotland. See part one here. Soppy romantic books and films of the Jackie variety are not for your scrivener, the reader may have gathered, yet one isn’t unsentimental. A dear aunt about 10 years older than onese

The rule of law is inevitably one of the first victims of war, and that is particularly the case when the aggressor nation chooses to pursue its objectives regardless of the impact on a civilian population, targeting hospitals, schools, public buildings and residential homes in a bid to undermine th