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The Scottish courts should make greater use of video-link technology to reduce the number of people in custody being brought to court for short procedural appearances, prison inspectors have said. In a new report, HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS) said there had been an increase in cou

Landmark legislation to regulate social media companies and search engines will be announced in the Queen's Speech this week, according to reports. The UK government will bring forward an Online Safety Bill placing a duty of care on major online services and bringing them under the oversight of Ofco

Further legislation incorporating international conventions into Scots law could also face legal challenges, warns Andrew Stevenson. It is vital to ensure prudent management of taxpayers’ money that authorities act within their powers (intra vires). Had they done so, numerous UK local authorit

The civil justice system also has its part to play in tackling the climate emergency, writes John Sturrock QC. CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is at record levels, higher than for 3 million years. According to the former Governor of the Bank of England, and now UN special envoy on climate action

Irregularities in the appointment of judges to Poland's top court precluded an applicant company's right to a "tribunal established in law", the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled. In a unanimous judgment handed down last week, the ECtHR noted that three judges of the Constitutional Co

An Italian judge who was murdered by the mafia 30 years ago has become the first judge to be beatified as a martyr in the history of the Catholic Church. Rosario Livatino, who was shot and killed in 1990 by gunmen hired by the Stidda and Cosa Nostra crime syndicates, was beatified in Sicily on Sunda

World markets are very difficult to predict, and predicting the fortunes of a single company or stock is almost impossible. As consumer choices determine the success of a product, and with human nature being unpredictable and inconsistent, selecting the ‘right’ stock to buy is certainly

A man who shot and killed another man on his doorstep has been jailed. Sean Orman has been jailed for life after being found guilty of the murder of Bradley Welsh and attempted murder of David McMillan at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Staff at Balfour and Manson took on a range of challenges focused on the number 100 to kick off their fundraising push for their new 2021-2022 charity partners Heath In Mind and AberNecessities.

Iraqi prank shows that terrified celebrities with fake suicide bombers and staged kidnappings have been taken off the air by regulators. Talqat Tony (Tony's Bullet) and Tanb Raslan (Raslan's Shooting) went too far and were deemed to breach broadcast rules, the BBC reports.

Two men who were sentenced to varying periods of imprisonment for spitting at police officers during the course of the Covid-19 pandemic have had their sentenced reduced by the Appeal Court of the High Court of Justiciary. Gordon Dewar and Barry McLean both pled guilty to assault

A survey of Scottish solicitors has found that more than three-quarters think aspects of remote civil court work should continue after the pandemic. Findings from the Law Society of Scotland survey of 448 civil court practitioners have indicated that most think remote hearings work well for procedur

John Bett, partner and head of dispute resolution and litigation at Lindsays, details why ignoring furlough mistakes could be costly for businesses. Mistakes happen in life and business. The important thing is that we act upon them and try to make the error good as soon as we realise.

Young people need additional support and protection in the criminal justice system because they are more susceptible to pleading guilty when innocent, a new study argues.   The study says differences in children’s brains, which affect their sensitivity to pressure and rewards, and di

Legislation to protect former British soldiers from prosecution for killings in Northern Ireland during the Troubles will be brought forward following the collapse of a trial in Belfast, according to reports. Two former members of the British Army's Parachute Regiment, known only as Soldier A and So