Case Reports

A lord ordinary has ordered that the director of an insolvent healthcare waste disposal company be disqualified from company management for nine years, after finding that his conduct in the run-up to the company’s liquidation amounted to an “egregious breach” of his director’

The Outer House of the Court of Session has exercised its parens patriae jurisdiction to authorise the treatment of three seriously ill children, despite their parents refusing to do so on account of their religious and personal beliefs. Three children, believed to be at risk of severe harm or death

A sheriff at Kirkcaldy has refused a father’s attempt to seek supervised contact with his daughter, after finding that there was no evidence to suggest the risk indicated by the father’s previous sexual abuse of his daughter’s half-sister had materially reduced. The minuter was ref

A lord ordinary has refused a life prisoner’s appeal against the Parole Board for Scotland’s refusal to allow him release on licence, after both previous attempts at release ended in recall on account of serious reoffending. The Parole Board for Scotland refused in February 2026 to allow

A lord ordinary has refused the General Medical Council’s petition to continue an interim conditional registration order against a medical practitioner, months after a charge of possessing indecent images of children against the practitioner was dropped on account of a lack of evidence. An ord

The Inner House of the Court of Session has upheld Moray Council’s decision to refuse planning permission to a large-scale bioenergy plant, despite apparent climate benefits, on the basis of its potential to contribute to development sprawl. The appellants sought planning permission to constru

An anonymous advocate, alongside the Faculty, has won an appeal against the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission’s decision to allow allegations of serious dishonesty against him to proceed to investigation without first receiving supporting evidence or hearing representations. After receiving

The UK Supreme Court has allowed an appeal brought by a private hire driver, after finding that the flat weekly fee imposed on all drivers working for the respondent taxi company amounted to unlawful discrimination against part-time workers. The appellant argued that a flat weekly fee levied on driv

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal has declined to make a determination in favour of two complainers who alleged that the installation of surveillance devices at the home of their next-door neighbours was unlawful and contrary to their rights under Article 8 ECHR. Seeking to investigate years of alle

The procurator fiscal at Edinburgh has regained the power to prosecute a man charged with stalking, after the Sheriff Appeal Court found that the trial sheriff’s decision to desert the matter simpliciter on account of repeated delays in hearing witnesses was made without a proper basis. Repeat

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal has awarded £20,000 in damages to Vincent Kearney, the former BBC Northern Ireland home affairs correspondent, after finding that police and MI5 interference in the journalist’s mobile phone data violated his rights under Article 10 ECHR. Revelations of

The Appeal Court of the High Court of Justiciary has rejected an appeal brought to it by reference of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, reasoning that post-conviction developments in the appellant’s mental state did not mean that his sentence had proceeded on the basis of an inacc

A lord ordinary has granted special powers to the judicial factor of a trust, set up to manage an East Lothian farm following its owner’s death, despite a trustee’s objections to the factor’s proposals to sell the farm. The noter was appointed judicial factor of the Old Waughton Di

The Appeal Court of the High Court of Justiciary has refused an appeal against a domestic abuse conviction after finding that the sheriff had not erred in admitting hearsay evidence which, owing to severe mental ill health, the appellant’s ex-partner could not deliver as a witness. The appella

The Sheriff Appeal Court has dismissed a parent’s appeal against the General Teaching Council for Scotland’s refusal to remove a note describing the parent’s “extended campaign” to “cause disruption and annoyance” from its internal records, finding that even