Case Reports

A woman accused of smashing the windscreen of a car driven by her estranged partner has been found guilty of vandalism after a sheriff ruled that her belief that they were the joint owners of the vehicle was no defence to the statutory charge of wilfully or recklessly damaging property belonging to

The Crown has successfully challenged a judge’s decision that an admission made by a mother accused of assaulting her child during a conversation with a social worker in hospital was “inadmissible”. The Criminal Appeal Court allowed the appeal after ruling that the evidential hearing judge “

A man accused of being in possession of indecent images of children has failed in an appeal against a sheriff’s decision to extend the time bar for prosecutors to bring him to trial. The Criminal Appeal Court refused the appeal after ruling that the sheriff applied the correct test and could not b

Prosecutors have successfully challenged a sheriff’s decision to desert simpliciter a case against a man accused of a catalogue of domestic abuse charges. The sheriff deserted the trial after the Crown had repeatedly failed to disclose the telephone records of the appellant and his wife, but the C

The fund-freezing measures imposed on Rami Makhlouf, cousin of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, must be maintained for the period 2016-2017, the General Court of the European Union has confirmed. Since 2011, the Council has included Mr Rami Makhlouf on the list of persons covered by the restrictiv

A full bench is to review the procedure for challenging the validity of a police search warrant granted by a sheriff and the admissibility of evidence obtained from the search. Three judges of the High Court of Justiciary Appeal Court observed that there was “confusion” among the legal professio

An Afghani national who had been refused leave to remain in the UK as a partner of a British woman has successfully challenged a decision to certify his asylum and human rights claims as “clearly unfounded”. The decision to certify his claim meant that Aziz Hussini would be unable to appeal the

A bench of five judges is to review the directions to be given to a jury as to how they should treat video evidence presented to them at trial. Three judges of the High Court of Justiciary Appeal Court observed that the law was in a “state of uncertainty” and that now would be an “appropriate

of the member states as the provisions of the agreement relating to non-direct foreign investment and to dispute settlement between investors and states do not fall within the exclusive competence of the European Union, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled. On 20 September 2013, the

in the EIA process. The extent of such provision must, however, be tempered with a degree of realism. It should not create an endless process of notification of, and consultation on, every matter which is, or becomes, available to the decision-maker prior to the decision. The process is to inform t

A woman facing an action for payment of more than £170,000 following a “gratuitous alienation” who claimed that the statutory defences available to a challenge to such a transfer breached her human rights has had her defence dismissed. The case raised the issue of whether the terms of section 3

A Swedish man whose daughter was “wrongfully removed” from Sweden to Scotland by her mother has been granted a court order to have the eight-year-old girl returned to the country of her birth. A judge in the Court of Session granted the order under the Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985 after

An air carrier which is unable to prove that a passenger was informed of the cancellation of his flight more than two weeks before the scheduled time of departure is required to pay compensation to that passenger – this applies not only when the contract for carriage was concluded directly between

A Scottish local authority involved in arbitration proceedings with a building company following a dispute over a construction contract has had an application for a court order prohibiting disclosure of the identity of the parties refused. A judge in the Court of Session noted that the names of the

A motorist who was sued after she struck a pedestrian suspected of attempting suicide at the time of the accident has been cleared of any liability. A judge in the Court of Session ruled that the pursuer, who could not remember anything about the time of the accident, failed to establish that the dr