Features

On 22 September, a unique type of Sheriff Court turned seven years old. Its uniqueness among all of Scotland’s sheriff courts is that it can hear civil cases where the incident happened, or the defender lives, anywhere in Scotland rather than just a particular area within Scotland. This court

A recent ruling by the Inner House of the Court of Session has highlighted the need for parties to take care to understand their contractual obligations when seeking to exercise rights under leases, writes Eilidh Smith. The court ruled that Kuehne+Nagel Limited had been required to pay VAT on a

The UK Supreme Court will soon have the opportunity to settle the law relating to the proximity issue of plaintiffs as secondary victims in claims arising from clinical negligence, writes Belfast barrister James Stitt. On 13th January 2022 the Court of Appeal of England and Wales handed down judgeme

See how the cookie crumbles: David J Black recounts a time when politicians, given the chance to practise what they preach, decided to just preach some more.

Andrew Boccoli believes that a question mark hangs over the continuation of fixed-price arrangements. For the past 20 years, convention in the construction trade has been that contractors take on much of the financial risk when they tender successfully for projects. But, as the world attempts to man

The Westminster Health and Social Care Committee, chaired by Jeremy Hunt, published its NHS Litigation Reform report earlier this year, recommending a no-fault compensation scheme for medical negligence be introduced in England. No-fault compensation schemes are used in some countries, including New

A sheriff in Hamilton Sheriff Court has allowed a proof in an action of multiplepoinding raised by a bank to determine the entitlement of the Crown Office and a convicted fraudster to funds raised from the sale of a property in East Kilbride after the making of a proceeds of crime order against that

Since 1973 and the introduction of the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act, the law governing time limits for bringing claims has remained unchanged, despite many judgments which have highlighted ambiguities in the existing legislation. The Scots law of prescription, which is also referred to

Tom O’Connor travels to Poland where he finds pressure on the independent judiciary is intensifying and the country’s defiant judges in a grim mood. An EU fine of €1 million a day is, it appears, a price worth paying for Poland’s populist government which is garbing its sustai

Protection from discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief was introduced in 2003 and subsequently included as a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010. Belief is defined as any religious or philosophical belief (including a lack of belief) but it is specifically the area of phil

Review: Justice need not be static. In Scotland the lady, sans her blindfold, but with a vestige of the tell-tale scales in her left hand, once stood proudly over the doorway of Scotland’s 1639 Parliament with her companion Mercy until that building was ‘improved’ (i.e. largely dem

Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF UK and a former senior crown prosecutor, comments on the legality of plans to limit assembly near abortion clinics in Scotland. This week, Nicola Sturgeon committed to working with the Green MSP, Gillian McKay’s attempt to impose censorship zones acro

A six-year long trademark dispute between Sky and SkyKick will finally be decided by the UK’s Supreme Court later this year – a decision which may have significant implications for brand owners. In the UK, trademark applications must designate not only the trademark itself, but also the

It was probably foreseeable that the 'not proven' verdict would go. While not all of the reasons for getting rid of it are cogent, we have to accept that it will be consigned to legal history. However, an important point is what will replace it. There may be an attraction to adopting the English ter

The work of the independent Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry, chaired by Lady Poole, is underway, write Fiona Killen and Hazel Moffat. Its key aim is to report on lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic, balancing the need for a rigorous inquiry with a desire to report as soon as possible on those lesso