Case Reports

A pedicab driver who successfully challenged a Scottish local authority’s refusal to grant him a rickshaw licence has seen the decision overturned after the council successfully appealed to the Inner House of the Court of Session. The council licensing committee’s decision to refuse the applicat

At the High Court in Edinburgh today, Lord Uist(pictured) sentenced Brian McGregor to a punishment part of six years in prison and imposed an order for lifelong restriction after the accused was found guilty of charges of assault to severe injury, permanent disfigurement and danger to life, and robb

The Supreme Court has ruled the UK government’s benefit cap which restricts unemployed claimants to £500 a week in total welfare payments is lawful but that the policy is incompatible with the government's obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

A Scots lawyer who failed to undertake any work to conclude the administration of an estate has had his practising certificate restricted for a period of four years after being found guilty of “professional misconduct”. The Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal also awarded £500 compensati

A man who was found guilty of attempting to smuggle drugs into a prison on the basis of DNA evidence which prosecutors claimed to show that the accused had licked the seal to an envelope containing the illegal substance has had his conviction quashed on appeal. Judges in the Criminal Appeal Court ru

Disabled tenants in private or social housing could be given greater protection from eviction following a judgement from the UK’s highest civil court. The Supreme Court this week ruled that a court must give detailed consideration to a defence to a landlord’s claim for possession by a disabled t

A woman detained in a Scottish hospital under mental health legislation who challenged a warrant which was granted for her transfer to Holland had had an appeal against the decision refused. Sheriff Principal Derek Pyle (pictured) heard that the appellant “K” was detained in April 2014 within Ne

A property developer who took a loan from a bank for the purchase and development of land in 2007 but which the bank argued was merely for the purchase of the land has won his appeal in the UK Supreme Court after it held the bank made a legally binding promise for sums covering both purchase and dev

A diabetic woman of small stature whose son was born with serious disabilities and who claimed she had not been fully informed of the risks of giving birth has won a unanimous appeal against a decision of the Inner House of the Court of Session in the UK Supreme Court. President of the court, Lord N

The son of a woman with Alzheimer’s disease who challenged a decision of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland (MHTS) to make a compulsory treatment order (CTO) in relation to his mother has had his appeal refused. Judges in the Inner House of the Court of Session upheld a ruling of the sheriff

The man found guilty of the “limbs in the loch” murder has had an appeal against a decision of the Scottish Information Commissioner concerning a freedom of information request he made to the Scottish Prison Service refused. William Beggs alleged that commissioner Rosemary Agnew made “fundamen

Two accused persons charged with being concerned in the supply of cannabis resin after their car was stopped and “unlawfully” searched by police have had their appeals against a sheriff’s decision to dismiss their challenge to the admissibility of the evidence of the search refused. The Crimin

A Scottish local authority has been granted permanence orders in relation to three sibling children whose mother had a history of alcohol abuse, after a judge in the Court of Session ruled that it would be “better” for each of the three boys that an order be made than not. Lord Brailsford (pictu

The owner of a fire-damaged church whose claim on an insurance policy was repudiated by insurers has had a counterclaim for indemnification for losses arising from the blaze dismissed by a judge in the Court of Session. Lord Boyd of Duncansby (pictured) heard that in January 1998 the defender Lady I

A woman who was jailed for a minimum of 20 years after being found guilty of murdering a vulnerable neighbour has had an appeal against the sentence imposed refused. The main ground of appeal concerned the appellant’s medical and mental condition and the fact that she had undergone gender reassign