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Civil law cases raised at the Court of Session in 2014-15 were up 13 per cent over the previous year to 5,200 – mainly as a result of a 224 per cent rise in clinical negligence cases. However, the number of civil law cases initiated in Scottish courts overall is at its lowest since current statist

A garden centre cafe employee who was injured at work after falling in the kitchen has had an action for damages dismissed after failing to prove his claim that he slipped on an onion. A judge in the Court of Session absolved the defenders because he was “not persuaded on the balance of probabilit

Aileen Knox Property consultant CBRE has released the findings from its Scotland Property Quarterly report, with statistics showing Scottish commercial real estate produced a total return of 1.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015, leading to an overall annual return, across all asset types, of 9

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled* the Dublin III Regulation allows member states to send an applicant for international protection to a safe third country, irrespective of whether it is the member state responsible for processing the application or another member state. Th

Lord Pentland The Scottish Law Commission today published a discussion paper on defamation law. The project emerged from modernisation of the law in England and Wales in 2013, where changes were made to tackle “libel tourism”; claims being brought in the English courts on the back of minimal pub

A wholesale review of how family law in Scotland operates may be required, says a report published today by Holyrood’s Justice Committee. Following concerns raised about the effectiveness of some aspects of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006, the committee took evidence from academics, legal pract

Back from left: Scott Milne and Craig Nicol; Seated – Michelle Adam, Amanda Wilson, Susan Duff and Debbie Fellows

Campaigners have argued the Crown should not consider a police report into allegations of criminality in the Lockerbie investigation. Police Scotland said it is nearing the end of a three-year investigation into nine allegations made against police, prosecutors and forensic officials involved in the

Andy Wightman Legislation to transform how land is used and governed has been passed by the Scottish Parliament.

The Law Society of Scotland has called on the UK government to use the remaining stages of the Scotland Bill’s passage throughParliament to ensure the Sewel convention is fully incorporated into law. Holyrood yesterday passed the Scotland Bill, which will devolve new powers over tax and welfare to

A ferry operator that sued the Scottish Government after it unsuccessfully bid for a contract to provide services between the Northern Isles and mainland Scotland has failed in a £12 million damages action. A judge in the Court of Session dismissed the claim by Shetland Line (1984) Limited because

The Scottish Parliament Information Centre has published a briefing looking at stage 1 and 2 consideration of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Bill. The bill is a consolidation bill and as such makes no changes to the substantive law in this area.

Brian Inkster Crofting experts are gathering in Edinburgh this week at their annual conference where attendees will call on the Scottish government for reform of the law,The Scotsman reports.

Aileen McLeod

The European Court of Justice has dismissed an action by The Body Shop to have a decision of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) to reject its application for registration of the trade mark “SPA WISDOM” annulled. In 2010, The Body Shop International, established in Littleh