The Lord Advocate should test the constitutionality of an independence referendum held without the permission of Westminster by referring any enabling legislation to the Supreme Court, Joanna Cherry QC has suggested. Writing in The Times, Ms Cherry said that James Wolffe QC should “proact
Search: Scots syndicate 1901 bought land in Glasgow for £5000
The Scottish government is attempting to give ministers the power to allow solemn trials to be conducted without juries and to "dismantle in one fell swoop more than 600 years of legal principle" in a move described as a "knee-jerk reaction" at best and something "far more sinister" at worst. The Sc
International legal consensus on the nature of cryptoassets as property rights will be required if they become widely used, Lord Hodge has said. The Deputy President of the Supreme Court said this was "the most pressing" property law issue in relation to cryptoassets.
Court administrators have been urged to reconsider the “mothballing” of civil business, amid fears that the financial futures of some law firms and advocates are being jeopardised. Roddy Dunlop QC, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, said that – as is happening in England &ndash
A bill to limit private sector rent rises and to increase the availability of information available to tenants has been lodged by Scottish Labour’s housing spokesperson Pauline McNeill MSP. The Fair Rents Bill, dubbed the Mary Barbour Bill after the legendary rent strike organiser, was written
The Lands Tribunal for Scotland has rejected an application by a landowner for the discharge of a real burden that would have deprived three proprietors in Glasgow's West End of their servitude right of use of a garden. The real burden bound owners in a disposition from 1882 "not to erect any buildi
Alan McIntosh explains why it is "vital" that the amendments proposed by Jackie Baillie MSP to the latest coronavirus bill are implemented. The role of the Scottish government in this crisis is to protect its citizens, and as we move through this COVID-19 crisis and diverge from the rest of the
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
Dear Editor, The reflections by Thomas Ross QC on William Beck's fight to clear his name rightly focused on the problematic nature of eyewitness identification evidence. The potential for miscarriages of justice inherent in this type of evidence is of concern in many jurisdictions.
Richard McMeeken details new proposals to deal with the contract law implications of the current crisis. Following a meeting on 7 April 2020 of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law attended by (among others) Lord Neuberger, Lord Phillips, Sir David Edward and Sir William Blair
Michael G. J. Upton, advocate, FSA Scot., MCIArb dates the first attested use in our system of certain words, including some denominal verbs liable to excite the grammatical prescriptivist. The extent of what may be known (or at least read) about the present-day world merely by tapping on your keybo
A man who was convicted of attacking and robbing two men in Aberdeenshire while he was on bail has had his appeal against the convictions refused. Brandon Douglas was convicted on two charges; one of assault and robbery alongside his co-accused Martin Gemmell, and one of attempted murder and ro
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
Lady Rae has retired from the bench. Lady Rae was admitted as a solicitor in 1974 and worked as an apprentice and assistant at Biggart Lumsden and Co, Balfour and Manson, Biggart Baillie & Gifford and Ross Harper & Murphy between 1974 and 1977. In 1977 she became a partner at Ross Harper &am
After more than 200 years, Thomas Muir of Huntershill has been restored to the roll of the Faculty of Advocates following a successful plea by Ross Macfarlane QC. Muir was an advocate and political reformer in late eighteenth-century Scotland who, during an age of revolution, promoted democratic ide