Posts in "Scots Law"

Introduction

The second workshop of the University of Aberdeen’s research project ‘Digital Assets in Scots Private Law: Innovating for the Future’, funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE), was held on 29 May 2024 at the Law Society of Scotland in Edinburgh. The purpose of this workshop was Mapping…

Mrs Susan Gordon, Petitioner, [2023] SC ABE 26

Sheriff Philip Mann sitting in Aberdeen Sheriff Court has just handed down a landmark decision which, if followed by other courts, will open a new door in commissary practice across Scotland. 

The deceased, Mr Thomas Nicol Rae, left a Will providing that…

The final report of the Hearings System Working Group (HSWG) was published on 25^th May. The report proposes a significant redesign of the existing children’s hearings system in Scotland. Dr Alyson Evans of the University of Strathclyde, an academic specialist in the children’s hearings system, has recently blogged on two…

In recent years, digital assets, including cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, have grown in significance and there are a number of legal challenges involved in accommodating them within any system. The term “digital assets” is usually understood to be an umbrella term referring to secured digital representations of value which can…

Introduction

There is something of the ‘gift that goes on giving’ in respect of the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016. The more one looks into that statute, which constituted a massive paradigm shift in the way Scottish private rented tenancies operate presumably intended to stand for years if not…

It is a long-standing but nevertheless unsatisfactory feature of Scots law that the Lord Advocate performs two quite incompatible roles. On the one hand, the Lord Advocate is the Head of the Scots state prosecution service, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and yet he or she is…

Recently, while preparing material for a series of lectures for prospective law students, I have had cause to go over again the approaches to statutory interpretation that are taught to first year LLBs up and down the country. A key principle of all approaches is that, in the absence of…

The Scottish Government’s summary of mock jury research stakeholder events together with SLN’s Year in review round-up prompted a reconsideration of a number of this year’s prominent legal issues in relation to jury trials. In particular, drivers underpinning the idea that the current jury system may not…

Lord Glennie’s opinion in the recent ‘CH’ appeal ([2020] HCJAC 43) highlights a conflict of judicial thinking, and legal opinion in general, with respect to the Scottish rape shield. Could it be that the real issue is a fundamental lack of trust in the ability of a jury to reach…

David Lorimer, PhD candidate at Aberdeen Law School, takes a look at the acquittal rate in last year's Scottish Mock Jury Trials and what he calls the 'Hollywood Effect'.

Last year’s report on the Scottish Mock Jury Trials provided some complex and perplexing results. There were three convictions in the 32…