Features

The Faculty of Advocates is proud custodian for the nation of “a most curious Scots relic” from the Battle of Flodden. The standard of a Scottish nobleman which was carried into battle that fateful day – 9 September, 1513 – is now to be found adorning a wall in the Faculty&rs

To celebrate Burns Night, we consider links between Scotland's national Bard and the Faculty of Advocates This year marks the tenth anniversary of a special publication of a Robert Burns book which was discovered in the collection of one of his greatest admirers – the advocate and author Sir W

Dr Karen Baston looks at a particularly acrimonious legal dispute from the eighteenth century over the use of a garden. In February 1760, advocate Walter Steuart presented a petition to the Court of Session on behalf of his client, John Grieve, a taylor in Potter-row. [1] The petition was part of a

Graham Ogilvy considers one of Scotland’s less celebrated legal innovations – the Scold’s bridle or Branks. As a boy, the Scold’s Bridle exhibited in Dundee’s Albert Museum was an object of gruesome fascination. An accompanying illustration showed how unfortunate women

It is unlikely that any of the former inmates of Peterhead Prison will be beating a path to spend a pleasant afternoon in what must rate as Scotland's most unusual tourist attraction. 'The Hate Factory', as it was dubbed by its guests, is now a museum and was recently nominated for a tourism award.

Graham Ogilvy is disappointed by Mike Leigh’s newly released epic Peterloo. Peterloo, the brutal massacre inflicted on a Manchester crowd demanding political reform in 1819, was a milestone in the lengthy and, some would say, continuing, struggle to establish democracy in Britain and one of th

SLN reflects on one of Scotland's most famous miscarriages of justice as a new play – Oscar Slater - The Trial That Shamed A City – opens at the Òran Mór in Glasgow this week, running until Saturday. Book your tickets here. On 6 May, 1908, Jewish immigrant Oscar Slater

Writing for our sister publication Irish Legal News, Dublin solicitor Wendy Lyon examines the new book by sex workers and activists Juno Mac and Edinburgh-based Molly Smith. From its striking cover – designed to resemble the outside of a Soho sex shop – and provocatively punny title

Graham Ogilvy looks at the life of the radical William Davidson. The release last week of Mike Leigh's new film Peterloo telling the story of the notorious 1819 massacre of supporters of parliamentary reform in Manchester brings to mind the intriguing story of William Davidson, a Jamaican-born black

Global attention has recently focused on the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court, but Graham Ogilvy reports that the appointment of Scottish lawyer James Wilson as one of the first six SCOTUS justices was also controversial — when Wilson was twice incarcerated in a debtor&rs

It’s hard to believe only ten years have passed since touchscreen phone keyboards entered the mainstream, sweeping away the misery of millions who otherwise had to type messages with a number pad. Unfortunately for BlackBerry and its iconic QWERTY keyboard, the touchscreen revolution also her

The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken SLN assistant editor Kapil Summan reflects on the presumption of innocence in one of the best legal books of modern times.

In December 1864, Mary Pritchard became seriously ill and experienced retching and headaches. She was suffering the effects of antimony poisoning at the hands of her husband, Dr Edward Pritchard, who would become the last man to be publicly hanged in Glasgow. When her mother, Mrs Jane Taylor, moved

The venerable Society of Solicitors in the Supreme Courts of Scotland and its premises in Parliament House are among the jewels in the crown of Scotland’s legal heritage, as SSC secretary Mr Robert Shiels explains. On 1 August 1754 by Act of Sederunt of the Court of Session the

The "whipping stone", which marks the site of medieval flogging in Aberdeen, has once again been revealed. The unassuming 400-year-old relic – a square stone set flush in the ground – lies at the junction of Union Street and Broad Street and has now been restored after having been tarred