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As is my wont, I will try to avoid ambiguity – the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill is, in part, dangerous and not just because some of the drafting is appalling. I will not comment on the whole bill but on a few aspects.I am not suggesting that there is no roo

At a cursory glance, the minimum legal requirements for producing Scotch Whisky appear to be deceptively simple. The spirit can only be made in Scotland from just three natural ingredients – water, yeast and cereals – and must be matured in oak casks for a minimum of three year

A Lord Ordinary has refused a petition by a father seeking the return of two children to Poland after their mother took them back to Scotland, where they had lived the majority of their lives, on the basis that they would be at risk of harm if returned. Petitioner MP sought the return of his childre

The understandable furore over the wrongful conviction of Andrew Malkinson on a charge of rape in the English High Court has led to calls from many eminent lawyers for a public inquiry. The failures of the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Criminal Cases Review Commission add up to a dis

The owner and landlord of the site of a former whisky distillery in Elgin has been largely unsuccessful in an appeal against a decision of the UK Intellectual Property Office in relation to a trade mark dispute between the landlord and a tenant using one of its warehouses to provide whisky maturatio

Reports suggest that First Minister Humza Yousaf wants to change the law so that the only short prison sentences imposed will be on violent or sexual offenders, writes Douglas J. Cusine. Were the first minister actually visit a sheriff court (perhaps even more than once), he might realise the u

The recently decided – and widely reported – case of Sean Hogg has had so many twists and turns that it is not altogether easy to unravel what happened or what (if any) implications it has for future prosecutions. This led – when emotions were clearly running high – to the ma

The first in her extended family to go to university, intellectual property specialist Lesley Larg was appointed as Dundee-based solicitors Thorntons' first female managing partner in 2021, taking over from Craig Nicol who held the post for 10 years, seven of those years as joint managing partn

A personal injury sheriff has refused a motion for expenses by a successful defender in a case covered by qualified one-way cost shifting after rejecting their argument that the pursuer’s conduct had been unreasonable. Defender Robert Mykytyn, who was granted decree of absolvitor in an action

At the High Court in Glasgow yesterday, Judge Young imposed a £400 fine on Ian Higgins. Mr Higgins had pled guilty to a contempt of court by refusing to perform the duties required of a juror. The sentencing statement is reproduced below. Contempt of court includes conduct that denotes wilful

A family judge in the Court of Session has ruled that a Latvian mother and her two children aged two and four should not relocate from Aberdeen, where the mother held permanent employment, to Glasgow so that the children could be closer to their father. Both the pursuer, M, and the defender, A, held

Do not read on; it is all rubbish. A suggestion, which has had some press coverage recently, is that we may in future be subject to criminal sanctions if our bins contain material of the wrong kind. The “thinking” behind this is to encourage recycling. No sensible person would be opposed

A Lord Ordinary has ruled that the UK government acted lawfully in vetoing the Scottish Parliament’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill from receiving lawful assent, after a legal challenge to the block was brought by the Scottish Ministers. It was argued for the petitioners that the preconditions

A serving police officer who was investigated for failing to comply with an order requiring him to take a drugs test has lost a judicial review petition against the decision of Police Scotland to proceed with the investigation. The petitioner, D, had previously been investigated by Police Scotland o

Now that the dust has not settled on the Horizon scandal in Scotland as it relates to convictions of sub-postmasters, it is useful to recall what the lord advocate said in the Scottish Parliament on 16 January, writes former sheriff Douglas J. Cusine. “In September 2020, supported by Crown Off