News

The first minister Nicola Sturgeon (pictured) has confirmed that agreement has been reached with the UK government on the terms of the transfer of powers to allow the Scottish parliament to give 16 and 17 year olds the right to vote in Scottish parliament elections. Once the order has been passed, t

Stuart Cross (pictured) has been appointed to a personal chair at the University of Dundee. He joined the University in 1994 and became a senior lecturer in 2002.

A newly-named body has been established for advocates who specialise in criminal law – the Scottish Criminal Bar Association.

Sheriff Principal Mhairi Stephen (pictured) has been appointed as Queen’s Counsel by Her Majesty the Queen on the recommendation of former first minister Alex Salmond. The sheriff principal for Lothian and Borders was nominated by the lord justice general, Lord Gill.

The new drink drive limit imposed in December will have a greater impact on the future of pubs than the smoking ban did nearly a decade ago according to industry experts. One of the UK’s largest brewery and pub chains said the reduction in the alcohol limit for drivers from 80mg to 50mg for every

New figures have shown that health boards are straining to work through over 1,500 legal claims, some worth up to £5 million. NHS Grampian is facing payouts of up to £24 million in respect of about 100 alleged failures. The health board was recently accused of having “weak leadership and low mor

A man has admitted to attempting to procreate with a postbox after he was spotted in a shopping centre in Wigan. Paul Bennett, 45, was seen rubbing himself up and down the box in the Scholes Precinct shopping centre by a passer-by who called the police.

Pupils from schools across Scotland are getting ready to debate the pros and cons of immigration controls in the second round of the Law Society of Scotland’s national debating tournament. The opening rounds of the Donald Dewar Memorial Debating Tournamentsaw 128 teams from 97 Scottish schools put

New guidelines put out to consultation today by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will radically change how victims and witnesses are treated in the courts. The consultation comes in the wake of suicides linked to rape trials.

In a study published in the journal Legal and Criminology Psychology, researchers from the University of Surrey have argued that eyewitnesses to crimes can remember details more accurately when they close their eyes. In addition, the researchers found that building rapport with the witnesses assiste

The Crown Office has responded to a Dundee sheriff’s criticism of it as “ill-informed and wrong” after he lambasted prosecutors for bringing a case to trial which fell apart in less than an hour, The Courier reports. Sheriff Alastair Brown said the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (C

Deputy first minister and finance secretary John Swinney (pictured) will consider revised residential tax rates for the land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT) – which will replace UK stamp duty land tax from April 2015. Mr Swinney will review the rates as part of the Scottish budget bill proces

The Crofting Commission last week lodged a request that a special case be stated on a question of law for the opinion of the Court of Session in connection with the Scottish Land Court’s decision of 18 December 2014 in the case of MacGillivray v Crofting Commission. That case concerned the Croftin

Lord McCluskey Lord McCluskey, the former solicitor general, has launched another attack on the Scottish government’s plans to get rid of corroboration.

A lawyer who is instructed by a person initially represented by a duty solicitor is only entitled to payment of half of the fixed fee where the accused changes their plea to guilty prior to the commencement of the trial or where the client offers a “mixed plea”. A sheriff has ruled in favour of