Search: Scottish syndicate purchased land 1901 for £5000

A journey of a thousand miles is said to begin with a single step. I suggest a journey needs a destination. Without this the traveller is lost. COVID-19 has paralysed this country and indeed the world. It threatens our economy, collective life, family life and how we as human beings exist and intera

Robert Pirrie WS, chief executive of the WS Society, tells the story of William Roughead, the Edinburgh lawyer who became the father of the ‘true crime’ genre and the celebrated trial for murder of Miss Madelaine Smith. Amongst the many remarkable collections of the Signet Library,

May 8th 2020 marked the 75th anniversary of VE Day – the end of the Second World War in Europe. During the six long years of conflict, the WS Society kept a scrapbook of news about Writers to the Signet in service at home and abroad. James Hamilton introduces this poignant resource. One mornin

Lockdown has created domestic tensions of many kinds in the home, for those in all different kinds of relationships, writes Lynne Mulcahy. Family lawyers are concerned about a number of adverse effects of the current crisis and the impact on clients (and others), who might be experiencing relat

At the end of 2017 the new Electronic Communications Code (enacted by the Digital Economy Act 2017, amending the Communications Act 2003) replaced the old 1984 Telecommunications Code. After two-and-a-half years, the new code is producing a steady flow of decisions, throwing some much-needed light o

Two pupils from Peebles High School have won the grand final of this year’s national Donald Dewar Memorial Debating Tournament, organised by the Law Society of Scotland. Mhairi Kinahan and William Adams were crowned Scotland’s best young debaters after proposing the motion “This ho

As someone who was inspired to become a lawyer after watching Granada TV show Crown Court, Claire Mitchell QC has always loved the drama of advocacy. “Crown Court was my first experience of the legal process and of true crime – I know it wasn’t true, but I was watching it as if it

Arbitration is a commercial, cost-effective and confidential method of resolving disputes. However, with the COVID-19 lockdown impacting court business and creating a backlog of litigation work, arbitration’s flexibility might now be its most valuable attribute, writes Andrew Mackenzie. A

A Crown appeal against the leniency of the sentence of a man who pled guilty to deliberately coughing in the faces of two police officers and thus recklessly endangering their lives has resulted in the total sentence being increased by nine months. The appeal by HM Advocate followed the sentencing o

When a defect becomes apparent in a building or structure, how long does the owner have to make a claim? Kathryn Kelly explains more. In Scotland, defects claims have to be made within five years. Time starts to run when loss, injury and damage occurs (section 11(1) of the Prescription and Limi

A reclaiming motion by a trust against the partial enforcement of an adjudicator’s decision in respect of a dispute between the trust and a company contracted to build a house for the trust has been refused. Dickie & Moore Ltd, the pursuer and respondent, originally raised the proceedings

Following on from our book recommendations last week, we have asked some of our readers to recommend their favourite law-related films.Sheekha Saha, a solicitor with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, picked Les Misérables – "but the 1998 version, starring Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush".

Dr John Macleod of Edinburgh Law School examines inaccuracy and the offside goals rule in light of a recent case in the Outer House. BAM TCP Atlantic Square Limited v BT plc [2020] CSOH 57 presents something approaching a full house of recent hot topics in conveyancing: interpretation of a deed of c

A medical practice that took on the staff of a dissolved practice has been unsuccessful in its petition to suspend an Employment Tribunal order requiring it to re-engage a doctor who was employed by the dissolved practice. Levenside Medical Practice, based in Dumbarton, argued that an order could no

There is a real risk of unintended consequences from this noble attempt to provide greater clarity, transparency and consistency in hate crime law, writes Fred Mackintosh QC of Terra Firma Chambers. The Justice Committee’s call for views on the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill close