Case Reports

A group of Scottish tenant farmers who claimed they had suffered “loss, injury and damage” after being evicted from their farms due to “unlawful” legislation are entitled to limited compensation, a judge has ruled. The Court of Session held that the state should compensate the individuals fo

A former priest has been ordered to pay his brother-in-law more than £140,000 in damages from his late father’s estate following a family dispute over the lease of a fish and chip shop. John Gray was awarded damages for loss of profits in his action against Father Roderick MacNeil, after the Sher

A sheriff’s decision to discharge a man who was arrested on a European Arrest Warrant after ruling that the crime narrated was not an offence in Scots law has been overturned following an appeal. Miroslaw Lisek was convicted of stealing sewing machines after failing to return the items, which had

A punter who placed a £100 bet at odds of 2500/1 for “Rangers to be relegated” from the Scottish Premier League has had his £250,000 claim against the bookmakers rejected after the company refused to pay out. A judge in the Court of Session ruled that the simple, natural and ordinary meaning o

A 40-year-old case on the effect of arrestment of a company’s property following the appointment of a receiver was “wrongly decided”, a five-judge bench has ruled. The Inner House of the Court of Session held that the court in the 1977 case Lord Advocate v Royal Bank of Scotland, which ruled t

A telephone subscriber’s consent to the publication of his data also covers its use in another member state, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled. The highly harmonised regulatory framework makes it possible to ensure throughout the EU the same respect for requirements relating to

The mother of a child who was placed in the care of a couple later approved as kinship carers has successfully challenged a decision to make an order for the adoption of her daughter. The Inner House of the Court of Session ruled that the decision of the sheriff to make the adoption order and dispen

An internal rule of an undertaking which prohibits the visible wearing of any political, philosophical or religious sign does not constitute direct discrimination, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled. However, in the absence of such a rule, the willingness of an employer to take acc

A solicitor and RAF wing commander found guilty of behaving in a “threatening or abusive manner” towards his wife has had an appeal refused after claiming he should have been given an “absolute discharge”. The Sheriff Appeal Court rejected the appellant’s claim that there had been a “mis

A Turkish judge who was dismissed in the wake of last year’s attempted coup d’État has had her application to the European Court of Human Rights unanimously declared inadmissible on the basis domestic law provides a remedy. The case concerns the dismissal of Kadriye Çatal by the Supreme Counci

” by the appellant. Accordingly, it would not have been sufficient for the appellant simply to have knowledge of assaults being committed by her co-accused and, it was submitted, it was essential that the jury were given clear directions to enable them to understand what was necessary by way of ev

Member states may reserve to notaries the power to authenticate signatures appended to the documents necessary for the creation or transfer of rights to real property, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled. This requirement contributes to guaranteeing the legal certainty of real prope

A man who claimed that a Scots lawyer who acted for his wife in a divorce action marketed the estranged couple’s property for sale without his consent has failed in an appeal against a tribunal’s decision to dismiss his complaint against the solicitor. The Inner House of the Court of Session rul

A former prisoner who claimed that the policy of hand-cuffing him when he was escorted from jail to hospital for medical appointments while he was serving his sentence breached his human rights has had a damages claim dismissed. Easdale Campbell, who was convicted of attempted murder in 1996, argued

A couple who claim their house has been damaged by black “whisky fungus” from a local distillery will be able to pursue their action for damages. A judge in the Court of Session ruled that Thomas Chalmers and his wife Gail Chalmers had pled a “sufficient case” on liability to allow their cla