Features

The Great War had an unprecedented and long-lasting impact on crime in Scotland. From the first year of the war prison committals were at their lowest levels since the 1870s, and remained there until after armistice in 1918. Even amongst those citizens not in the armed forces imprisonment also fell

The Scottish Law Agents’ Society has reacted with dismay to the decision by the Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal to reduce the standard of proof it applies from beyond reasonable doubt to a balance of probabilities. Andrew Stevenson, its secretary, explains why. This decision amo

David Dewar was born in 1836 in Perthshire, the son of a farmer. At the age of fourteen years he entered the office of Mr Barty, the procurator-fiscal at Dunblane. After a legal apprenticeship he was engaged as a clerk in the office of the procurator-fiscal at Airdrie and at Fort William. It is not

The die was cast for Mary Queen of Scots on May 16th 1568 when she crossed the Solway into England a few days after the Battle of Langside. Some sought to dissuade her. Archbishop Hamilton even seized the reins of her horse and begged her not to trust herself to England. Mary would have none of it,

The last revolution in legal education was not digital but electrical. For a time, the lecture halls of Edinburgh and Glasgow stood half-in, half-out of the new century: stone stairwells lit by bare bulbs, while seminar rooms still relied on the yellow comfort of gaslight. No one doubted that electr

Irrespective of one’s politics, it is irrefutable that John Maclean was one of the great men of politics making history in early twentieth-century Red Clydeside. So why is he so sparingly discussed in this book whose title purports to be a new biography? The early chapters rattle along recount

David J Black is underwhelmed by the US investor’s plans for a pod hotel in an elegant Edinburgh crescent. A mere few months have passed since Keir Starmer, chancellor Rachel Reeves, and trade minister Peter Kyle victoriously announced that they had secured a magnificent £150 billion dea

As a solicitor who has specialised in non-surgical beauty and hairdressing claims for more than 13 years, I have witnessed the evolving landscape of cosmetic treatments in Scotland, writes Jennifer Wallace. Throughout my experience representing clients, it became increasingly evident that there was

When Fiona Pask took on the head of Scotland role at Shakespeare Martineau earlier this year it looked like the firm was finally going to be able to pursue the kind of growth it had planned since launching in Edinburgh in 2020. The Scottish government’s long-awaited Regulation of Legal Service

Jonny Seddon shares some insight from the recent Interlaw Global Meeting in Edinburgh, which sparked discussion around how developers and investors are navigating uncertainty in the Scottish real estate market. After years of political shifts, rising costs and funding pressures, Scotland’s rea

Europe has entered the next phase of the AI–copyright debate, writes Corsino San Miguel. On 11 November, the 42nd Civil Chamber of the Munich Regional Court delivered the first European judgment to hold an AI developer directly liable for both training and outputs involving copyrighted works.

Tom Lawrie, lecturer in law at Glasgow Caledonian University, reflects on changes in how law is taught. Teaching law in a Scottish university long meant gathering students in their hundreds in lecture theatres and explaining complex substantive legal concepts in a structured and consistent way. Smal

In this interview Aidan O’Neill KC, who acted for the appellant Daly before the Supreme Court in Daly v HM Advocate; Keir v HM Advocate [2025] UKSC 38, reflects on the decision and its implications. Q: What was the history of the Daly case prior to getting to the Supreme Court?

Art Fraud provides a very readable history of the stories behind some of the greatest controversies in modern art history: those were where artists and sculptors achieved fame, fortune or infamy almost as great as that of the artists whose work or style they copied. The comprehensive nature of the s

Scottish ministers have extended a consultation on new mental health moratorium rules amid efforts to improve debt protections for people struggling with mental illness, writes Ahsan Mustafa. On 14 November, Ivan McKeen, minister for public finance, extended the consultation on the draft Mental Heal