Features

The Stuart Hogg case highlights the use of an offence which came into force in 2019, writes Douglas McConnell. The recent domestic criminal case involving former Scotland rugby player Stuart Hogg has attracted significant attention to the relatively new offence outlined in the Domestic Abuse (Scotla

David J Black finds that money and sanctimony make for a heady cocktail as the plot of his bookish inquiry thickens. See part two here. Sally Rooney really should know that Waterstones’ US parent, private equity fund Elliott Advisors, is part of corporate giant Elliott Investment Manageme

As we enter a new year, there has been a key update in the implementation of the Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Act 2023 (MT(S)A). Scottish ministers have passed regulations which will bring the remaining provisions of the MT(S)A into force on 1 April 2025, writes Samir Younes. The MT(S)A will sig

In the first of our occasional series highlighting Scotland’s legal treasures, we examine a charter in the keeping of the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow which is a remarkably early example of a woman asserting her rights.

The public must surely wish to have a comprehensive narrative of the course of conduct by a medically qualified person resulting in the deaths of many babies, and they have it with this book. The shock of the whole scenario is not of a fanciful or unique set of circumstances, regrettably, as similar

When Brandon Malone dropped dead five years ago, it was a defibrillator machine – and quick-thinking hotel staff – that saved his life. Luckily an automatic-external defibrillator had been at hand and, though his heart had stopped for a full 20 minutes, the people using it were able to s

Literature is another casualty of our ailing civilisation. David J Black discusses the simulacrum left in its wake. See part one here. Unlike her risque predecessors Jilly Cooper and Joanna Trollope, Ms Rooney enjoys the honorific sobriquet "the voice of a generation", in which office she has seemin

In ATG Services (Scotland) Limited v Ogilvie Construction Limited [2024] CSOH 94, Lord Sandison delivered a stark warning about ‘unjustified’ challenges to the enforcement of adjudication decisions, writes Kate Ross. In this case, ATG Services (a subcontractor) had launched a “smas

Research conducted by Towergate Health and Protection of 500 HR professionals undertaken in 2024, revealed that 98 per cent of companies surveyed have encouraged their employees to return to the office for at least part of the week, writes Laura Jordan. With the dark days of Covid lockdown now almos

In the second part of his analysis of the Lockerbie case, Ronnie Clancy KC, who was Crown counsel in the appeals, looks at the issues surrounding the timer used for the bomb and the famous suitcase. Read part one here. As matters stand in the aftermath of the latest Lockerbie appeal, the most promin

David J Black exemplifies Juvenal's dictum that "It is difficult not to write satire". Literary criticism will not be the purpose of this exercise, so those anticipating a promotional puff for Intermezzo or anything else by the much celebrated Sally Rooney may be disappointed. It’s usually a r

Ronnie Clancy KC defends the Lockerbie investigation against claims its famous conviction was a miscarriage of justice. Twenty-four years have elapsed since the conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi for his part in the murderous conspiracy which caused the death of 270 innocent people on 21

John Hill Burton was an advocate from 1831 and he became a significant figure in nineteenth century Scottish thought. His contribution is reassessed in this impressive study by an independent scholar. Burton’s practice may not have amounted to much, and in 1854 he was appointed secretary to th

Neil Stevenson comments on an appeal to the Inner House in which judges clarified the meaning of 'complaint'. In its decision, the court has clarified that a 'complaint’ is the whole complaint made by the complainer, but also that for some sections of the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotla

“Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears”. Surely some mistake, I thought; shouldn’t it be the other way round? Swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning-hooks? It was during Evensong at the magnificent Liverpool Cathedral last month that this