News

Chris Holme looks at the life of Henry Dundas, a controversial figure who has come under scrutiny this year in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. He’s the man I walk past every day but never get to see up close. That’s because he’s 140 feet up in St Andrew Square –

The Inner House of the Court of Session has refused two appeals concerning a dispute between two feuding families, one of whom claimed to be the agricultural tenant of the other, holding that the tenant did have the right to buy the farmland but that a debt owed to her had been successfull

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have revealed new figures that show that Scottish prisons are overflowing with prisoners being offered next to no opportunity to leave their cells, as they called on the Scottish government to “stop dancing around the edges of this crisis”. Parliamenta

The overall level of new court cases registered has risen to 83 per cent of the average monthly pre-Covid level, according to new figures from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS). SCTS has published the first of a new monthly workbook to show the throughput of criminal cases in the cour

Blackadders has appointed Philip Buchan as a director. Originally from Angus, he specialises in the sale and acquisition of estates, forests, farms, salmon fishings and country houses and he advises clients on all aspects of countryside matters from water supply rights to diversification projects.

The Faculty of Advocates’ man in Brussels, Iain Mitchell QC, has been chosen as one of two contributors to a special publication to mark European Lawyers’ Day. Mr Mitchell’s article, Human Rights in the Time of Pandemic, is included in a handbook produced by the Council of Bars and

Thorntons' Gurjit Pall has urged Scottish businesses to apply for a Home Office sponsor licence as the Brexit transition period draws to a close – to ensure they can still access the best overseas talent. “With the new rules looming, employers should consider applying for a sponsor

New rules to protect traditional British foods including Stilton cheese, Melton Mowbray pork pies and Scotch whisky have been outlined by the UK government. The protections will replace the EU’s geographical indication scheme after the end of the Brexit transition period.

Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD) has advised waste management and recycling company Augean plc on its acquisition of the EcoCentre in Peterhead from US oil services firm Halliburton. Located in Aberdeenshire at the heart of the oil and gas supply chain, the EcoCentre provides the North Sea oil and gas in

The European Union's 2020 Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought has been awarded to the opposition in Belarus and its leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, for facing up to the Lukashenko regime. Belarus has been in the midst of a political crisis since the disputed presidential elections on 9 August, w

An undercover police officer was beaten up by his colleagues after they mistook him for a protestor. Riot police in Jambi, Indonesia have been filmed violently beating people protesting the country's job creation law.

To mark Black History Month, SLN is dedicating its ‘Our Legal Heritage’ slot to Scotland’s black history.   For centuries the identity of a young black woman present in a portrait of Lady Elizabeth Murray that adorns the Ambassador’s room of Scone Palace was a myste

A Nigerian citizen with no right to remain in the UK who was ordered to be deported following the end of a prison sentence has successfully appealed a decision of the Upper Tribunal that his deportation would not disproportionately interfere with the ECHR rights of his family.  The appellant,&n

Possible diluting of the judicial review court process, by which a check can be kept on the legality of government decision-making, has been condemned by the Faculty of Advocates. In evidence to a review of the procedure, the Faculty described as “chilling” any suggestion that some decis

An astonishing admission was made by Scotand's Lord Advocate in the Court of Session at the end of August. He conceded that his predecessor's 2012 prosecution of the two men called in as administrators of Rangers Football Club was malicious. This is a shameful milestone in the legal history of this