News

The key to Oscar Wilde's jail cell has been sold for £15,000, three times its estimated value. The key, used to unlock the Reading Gaol cell occupied by Wilde between 1895-1897, was put on auction in London yesterday by Sotheby's, who expected it to sell for £4,000-6000.

A council tenant who claimed that his occupancy agreement which was to “continue on a fortnightly basis” should be treated as a Scottish secure tenancy because it did not contain an express provision stating that it was for a term of less than six months has won an appeal against a decision allo

James Wolffe QC The Lord Advocate, James Wolffe QC, has stressed the need to respect the dignity and rights of all within the criminal justice system, whether victim, witness or accused.

Lorna McGregor A greater effort is needed to protect Britain’s position as a global leader in human rights as the development of a new British Bill of Rights, a rise in hate crime in recent years and changes to social security provide an uncertain future for society’s most vulnerable and margina

New information in papers relating to Thomas Muir have been uncovered in the Advocates Library in Edinburgh, shedding light on the life of the Scottish radical. Regarded as the father of Scottish democracy, the Glasgow-born Muir was convicted of sedition in 1793 and was sent to Australia.

Whether EU member states are obliged to grant humanitarian visas to people yet to enter its territory will be decided by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) following an emergency request from Belgium, EUobserver reports. The country's foreigners’ claims council has asked the court to rule on the

Kenny Crawford The latest publication of the UK House Price Index (UK HPI) shows that the average price of a property in Scotland in October 2016 was £143,131 – an increase of four per cent on the previous year and an increase of one per cent when compared to the previous month. This compares to

Angelika Nußberger The European Court of Human Rights has elected a new vice-president – Angelika Nußberger (Germany). She has been elected for a three-year term and will take up her duties on 1 February 2017.

Anıtkabir A Europe-wide body for judges has suspended the membership of Turkey’s judiciary owing to evidence that it is no longer independent of the country’s executive and legislature.

Professor Alan Miller The Law Society of Scotland spoke to Professor Alan Miller, special envoy of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions and former chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, on International Human Rights Day 2016, which marks the 68th anniversary of the Unite

A man found guilty of murdering his ex-partner who claimed that the trial judge showed a “lack of impartiality” by using the word “assassin” in giving an example of a deliberate intention to kill has failed in an appeal against his conviction. Mohammed Abboud, 57, who was sentenced to life i

Katy Wedderburn The UK government has published the final draft of the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017, which are set to come into force in April 2017 and which will see larger employers reporting on their gender pay gap, explains Katy Wedderburn.

Domestic abuse cases are being dealt with more quickly following an injection of cash from the Scottish government into the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). Audit Scotland told Holyrood’s Justice Committee that the average time for such a case to call was eight weeks, down from

Andy Wightman Scottish Green Party MSP Andy Wightman has confirmed he is being sued in a defamation action for £750,000 over claims made on his blog.

Jolyon Maugham QC A tax barrister has raised over £70,000 to challenge the Brexit process in the Irish courts, our sister publication Irish Legal News reports.