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The Scottish Sentencing Council has published a report following a public consultation on the Principles and Purposes of Sentencing guideline, ahead of submitting it to the High Court of Justiciary for approval. The council held a three-month consultation last year seeking views on this first senten

Company voluntary arrangements (CVAS) are very much in vogue. Why? Growth of online shopping, Brexit uncertainty, increased export costs, drop in consumer confidence and spend, increases in business rates, rising labour costs and long-term inflexible lease costs. All of these been cited as factors c

Police and prosecutors disclosed evidence in less than 60 per cent of a sample of hundreds of criminal cases, according to a new report. The Times reports that inspectors from HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) found that police complied with their obligations to disclose unused mate

Changes are being made to the Faculty of Advocates’ scholarship scheme, with the aim of making the devilling process as widely accessible as possible. One of a package of changes, which will include an increase in the number of scholarships available, is a revision to timing of scholarship app

The International Criminal Court (ICC) will assume jurisdiction over the crime of aggression from tomorrow, the twentieth anniversary of the ICC's founding Rome Statute. The fourth "core" crime of the ICC was set out in the ICC Statute in 1998, but the state parties agreed at the time

Telling migrants to "go away" is racist, Italy's highest court has ruled. The Court of Cassation ruled on Thursday that telling non-EU foreigners to get out of the country is a form of racial discrimination, The Local reports.

In 1748, James Douglas, 14th Earl of Morton, an antiquarian who had travelled in Egypt, presented a mummy to the Faculty.

Bilfinger UK, the company at the centre of the Edinburgh trams inquiry, has failed in its attempt to prevent publication of documents it provided to the inquiry. The company had sought a restriction order preventing publication of information contained in certain reports, but inquiry chairman L

Kate Dowdalls QC has been appointed as a commissioner of the Scottish Law Commission. In the post, which is for five years, Ms Dowdalls will work on projects in the area of family law, an area in which she has specialised throughout her career.

John McArthur calls for an overhaul of Britain's creaking inheritance tax regime. The problem with our existing tax system is that it’s now overly complicated and when even HMRC’s own system can’t work out the correct income tax liability that a taxpayer has to pay, that must raise

Lewis Richardson discusses a recent decision from the Sheriff Appeal Court in the case of Cabot Financial UK Ltd v Gardner and Ors, [2018] SAC (Civ) 12. The appeal related to debt recovery cases for assigned credit card debts. The three cases which formed the judgment in Cabot were raised under the

Following the extrajudicial settlement of the Heather Capital action in which part-time sheriff Peter Watson was named as one of the defenders, the Lord President, Lord Carloway has lifted the suspension imposed upon him in terms of section 34 of the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008. Sheriff

The UK government has reinstated legal aid for unaccompanied and separated children in non-asylum immigration cases.Lucy Frazer, parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice, said the U-turn would be put into effect through an amendment to the Legal Aid, Sentencin

Spain's new government has announced it will launch a truth commission to investigate crimes against humanity committed under the regime of Francisco Franco, more than 40 years after he died. The criminal records of dissidents will be wiped while the organisations venerating the military dictator, i