News

Scotland's largest prison is in a “wretchedly poor state”, according to a review. HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS) found that the prison's infrastructure “represents a barrier to safety and acceptable living standards”.

As a result of the retirement of Lord Hodge at the end of December 2025, the process to appoint a new deputy president and justice to sit in the Supreme Court has begun. The UK Supreme Court and Judicial Committee of the Privy Council hear a wide range of very complex and high-profile legal cases, w

Global executions reached their highest figure since 2015, as over 1,500 people were executed across 15 countries in 2024, a new report has found. According to Amnesty International's Death Sentences and Executions 2024, 1,518 executions were recorded in 2024 – the highest number since 2015 (a

A South Lanarkshire woman has been sentenced after pleading guilty to threatening and abusive behaviour toward an elected official. Elspeth Wood, of Hamilton, was given a community payback order with three years supervision and ordered to attend counselling.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has been asked whether ex-Catholics have a right under the GDPR to have their baptismal record erased upon request. A request for preliminary ruling was submitted in January by the Brussels Court of Appeal, which is hearing an appeal in a case brough

Lindsays and its clients have raised more than £11,000 for a leading mental health charity. Lindsays encouraged donations to SAMH (Scottish Action for Mental Health) instead of charging fees for wills drafted as part of its Make a Will Month fundraiser.

The cost-effectiveness of public inquiries in Scotland is to be the subject of a new parliamentary investigation. It will be the first time a Holyrood committee has examined the matter in depth.

A judge has rebuked a man who tried to present his case through an AI-generated character. Jerome Dewald, 74, was granted permission to show a video to an appeals courts in New York where he was appealing a ruling in an employment dispute.

Murray Beith Murray has announced that three senior solicitors have been promoted to associate. Anna MacLeod, Sally Scott Lintott and Adam Swayne took up their new roles on April 1. Ms MacLeod joined the firm in 2017 and specialises in rural property and agricultural affairs; Ms Scott joined the fir

Dear Editor, I’m relieved that I won’t have to learn about the new Registers of Moveable Transactions, as these days my interests lie in other fields (perhaps waters would be a better term as I contemplate the approach of the sailing season) but the news reminded me of a story that my fa

Amendments to the Housing (Scotland) Bill that set out how rents will be capped in rent control areas have been lodged by the Scottish government.

The Scottish government may have abandoned its proposed misogyny law. The government has officially blamed the delay in introducing its misogyny legislation on the Supreme Court case dealing with the definition of 'woman' despite the fact that that action has been going on for a number of years.

Bookings are now being taken for the Faculty of Advocates' 17th annual World Intellectual Property Day Conference, which takes place later this month. The annual free event will be held in the Mackenzie Building in Edinburgh on Friday 25 April. It is open to all advocates, solicitors, devils, traine

Five people are facing prosecution for allegedly threatening the judge who barred far-right leader Marine Le Pen from running in the 2027 French presidential election. Judge Bénédicte de Perthuis, who sentenced Ms Le Pen on Monday, was granted special police protection in response to o

The average selling price of property in Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders was £283,912 in January-March 2025, an annual increase of 6.1 per cent. In the capital, there was a notable jump of 6.8 per cent, resulting in a new average selling price in Edinburgh of £304,064. Taki