News

Scottish ministers have called on the UK government to keep its promises on devolving further welfare powers and reverse the extension of new Work Programme contracts. The move came at the joint ministerial working group on welfare, where social justice minister Alex Neiland fair work minister Rosea

House sales exceeded £15.3 billion in 2014, according to statistics published by Registers of Scotland (RoS). A total of 93,875 sales took place across Scotland in 2014, the highest annual figure since 2008, and an increase of 11.6 per cent compared to the previous year.

Journalist John Forsyth discusses the state of Scots law in the wake of recent Supreme Court cases overturning decisions of the Inner House.

A housebuilder which had a planning application for a new residential development refused due to the potential loss of environmental land has successfully appealed against the decision. Judges in the Inner House of the Court of Session quashed the decision after ruling that the reporter’s conclusi

Ampersand Stable’s Lauren Sutherland, Junior Counsel for the appellant in the Supreme Court case of Montgomery analyses the case.

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

Law firm bto solicitors has announced the appointment of James Ferguson as a consultant to service its insurance clients’ needs in Northern Ireland. Mr Ferguson is a partner of Ferguson and Company, a Northern Irish firm based in Belfast which has an established insurance practice.

Scottish legal business DWF is opening an office in Dubai to support its clients across the construction, energy, insurance and transport sectors in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This will be the firm’s first office outside of the UK and Ireland.

Shoosmiths has been selected by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) to report on and register all of their landholdings, following a tender process. The firm will be required to process around 400 titles for the SFRS as a result of a statutory obligation imposed by the Scottish government, a

Deputy first minister John Swinney has announced the development of a land and property information hub for Scotland. The keeper of the Registers of Scotland Sheenagh Adams (pictured), will lead a task force to develop an online system that will allow users to find out comprehensive information abou

Police are looking for grave robbers who dug up the 200-year-old skeleton of a Scottish magistrate and left his bones scattered around a churchyard. The remains of Stephen Williamson were strewn around the churchyard and police believe his skull may have been stolen as it has not been found.

In a report published today, the UK parliament’s joint committee on human rights has given a mixed view of the UK government's track record on complying with judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and has expressed concern about delays on implementing judgments in Northern Ireland. The jo

The Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal (SSDT) has released its annual report for the year ending 31 October 2014. Alistair Cockburn, chairman of the SSDT, said: “Details of the Tribunal’s workload over the past 12 months are set out in this report.

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

Journalist John Forsyth examines Scotland's record on deaths in custody My curiosity was prodded into life by an article in the Guardian last autumn about the number of prisoners in England and Wales who had committed suicide in the preceding 20 months. 130 men and 4 women had taken their own lives.