Opinion

Stuart Gillies highlights how the decline of cash during pandemic has resulted in an increase in confidence in financial technology. It’s been over a year now since we first locked down, when shaking hands and meeting a colleague for a coffee was normal – and when wearing slippers t

Writing for Scottish Legal News today, retired judge Lord Uist explains why he supports the abolition of the 'not proven' verdict. There have been many suggestions that 'not proven' is logical because when we make claims about guilt or innocence we stray from certainty; the indicative mood is too st

Eilidh Smith looks at the lessons we can learn from the IP woes of Taylor Swift. Earlier this month, Taylor Swift fans everywhere were treated to the release of Fearless (Taylor's Version), a re-imagining and re-recording of her 2008 LP – the first in a project which plans to re-record and rel

Professors James Chalmers, Fiona Leverick and Vanessa Munro take issue with recent claims about how often and in what sort of case the 'not proven' verdict is used. In a recent piece for Scottish Legal News, Alistair Bonnington criticised calls to scrap the not proven verdict, making a remarkable cl

Hamish Lean outlines an unusual environmental case that will be heard in the Court of Session next month. Beavers became a protected species in Scotland in May 2019. There are two populations, one in Knapdale in Argyll, introduced as part of a scientific trial and properly licensed and another in th

Cameron Greig takes a look at CAAD applications. Compensation following the compulsory purchase of land seeks to put the original landowner in the same position as they were in prior to the acquisition (insofar as money can do so).

Following the launch of a Police Scotland campaign aimed at tackling modern slavery concerns within the construction sector, Ramsay Hall outlines what modern slavery actually involves and what can be done when there's concern about its presence in the supply chain. Exploitation of people c

Yet some believe it’s pure gold? I suppose I’ve given my position away early with the title, but let me explain why I consider there to be something quite sinister about Bitcoin. It is an ‘investment’ (Bitcoin simply does not meet the criteria to be considered an asset) I wou

Fraser Kane looks at the shape of things to come for non-transferable debt securities. On 19 April 2021, the Treasury launched an open consultation concerning the future regulation of the issuance of non-transferable debt securities (NTDS), also commonly known as “mini-bonds” in the

Benjamin Bestgen this week encourages lawyers to consider the craft of writing. See his last jurisprudential primer here. George Orwell opined in 1946 that written English “is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble&

The publication yesterday of the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) Interim Report on the derailment of a passenger train at Carmont, Aberdeenshire, last August offers more questions than answers, writes Lisa Gregory. Despite the huge advances we have seen in road safety, workplace safet

As it continues to grow its track record of contributions to Scotland’s renewables mission, the offshore wind sector is currently making all the right headlines, writes Kelly Hardman. Amid the positive news, however, anyone with knowledge of sustainable business success will tell you it p

Scots law has had – and continues to have – many influences, from ancient Rome to the modern-day parliaments and courts. European, UK and Scottish legislation all continue to play a part in Scots law albeit that Brexit has greatly diminished the European influence in terms of new EU laws

A terrible fate potentially awaits any Scottish folk troubadour lacking knowledge of US copyright law should he or she be tempted to record or sing in public a Scottish variant of Woody Guthrie’s great American anthem This Land is your Land, This Land is my Land, for they could find themselves

Quis provides some advice on 'court craft'. The sum of £54,000 of public money for legal advice. That might not seem too extreme. This was the figure paid by the civil service in Scotland for “external preparation” for the Salmond inquiry, despite there being 139 lawyers employed i