Case Reports

The unfair trial application of a convicted paedophile has been dismissed as "manifestly ill-founded" by the European Court of Human Rights as it vindicated the findings of the English Court of Appeal that the jury in his trial was impartial. The applicant, Shabir Ahmed, is a British national who wa

A council house tenant who challenged an occupancy agreement after falling into arrears, on the grounds that the local authority failed to consider her ability to pay the rent, has had her petition dismissed. A judge in the Court of Session rejected the challenge after ruling that the petition was b

The executors of a deceased man who paid £150,000 to a woman in order to purchase and renovate property in which they lived together have failed in their claim to recover the money on the basis of “unjustified enrichment”. A judge in the Court of Session refused the claim for payment after ruli

A paedophile convicted of a catalogue of sexual offences against 19 children has failed in an appeal against his “lifelong” sentence. Andrew Byrne, 27, was given an Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR) with a punishment part of six years in 2010 after pleading guilty at the High Court in Glasgow

The European Court of Human Rights has unanimously rejected the applications of two men found liable in trespass, following the Omagh bombing in 1998, who claimed they had not been given a fair hearing because the proceedings were essentially criminal in nature and because hearsay evidence of an und

Advocate General Sharpston has stated that the Court of Justice of the European Union should annul the measures maintaining Hamas and LTTE on the EU list of terrorist organisations, on procedural grounds. On 27th December 2001, the Council of the European Union adopted a common position and a regula

A British businessman wanted by authorities in Taiwan to serve a prison sentence after he was found guilty of negligent manslaughter following a drink-driving accident has won a human rights appeal to stay in Scotland. Zain Dean, 44, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment after being convicted of

An owner of land on which electricity pylons have been installed by another party is not entitled to receive a payout for any period when the apparatus was on the land before the date of the grant of the necessary wayleave, a judge has ruled. Lord Glennie in the Court of Session refused a petition b

A family of balaclava-clad anti fox-hunting protestors who were found guilty of a statutory breach of the peace after following a hunt have failed in an appeal against their convictions. Colin Milne and Beverly Milne and their daughter Amy Lilburn were convicted of behaving in a “threatening” ma

A man found guilty of a knifepoint robbery who also allegedly threatened to assault his defence counsel has lost an appeal against his conviction after claiming he did not receive a fair trial due to “defective representation”. Peter Boath, who was sentenced to nine years imprisonment for attack

The agency responsible for the procurement of medical equipment for the NHS in Scotland has secured a court order to conclude a framework agreement with its suppliers after a rival tenderer challenged its award of a contract. A judge in the Court of Session granted the interim order after ruling tha

Placing a cosmetic product containing ingredients which have been tested on animals on the EU market may be prohibited where that testing has been conducted outside the EU in order to market the product in third countries and where the results of that testing are used to prove the safety of the prod

The mother of a child who developed “significant disabilities” following complications during her labour has successfully sued a Scottish health board after claiming that her baby daughter’s injuries were caused by the “fault and negligence” of hospital staff. A judge in the Court of Sessi

A man accused on summary complaint of housebreaking against whom solemn proceedings over the same incident were dropped following an appeal has failed in a plea to have the case against him deserted. The Sheriff Appeal Court refused an appeal by Donnie Potts, who challenged a sheriff’s decision to

The General Court of the European Union has confirmed the Commission’s decision to accept the commitments of Thomson Reuters intended to remedy its abuse of a dominant position in the market for consolidated real-time datafeeds. Consolidated real-time datafeeds provide banks and financial institut