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A museum's prize collection of papyrus fragments purporting to be pieces of the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls have been outed as forgeries. The 16 fragments held by the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. have been identified as fakes by Art Fraud Insights, National Geographic reports.

Only essential business will go through the Scottish courts until further notice. The Crown Office has announced contingency arrangements for court business aimed at significantly reducing the demand on the justice system and reducing unnecessary social contact to slow the spread of COVID-19 as it i

The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) has been asked to look urgently at additional steps to improve cashflow and support businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic. In a letter to practitioners, John Mulholland, president of the Law Society of Scotland, said the Law Society had asked SLAB to consider:

The Housing and Property Chamber has postponed scheduled hearings and case management discussions (CMDs) due to the coronavirus pandemic. Those with an ongoing case will be contacted in due course with this information.  The chamber will contact parties in order of hearing date and has asked pa

Media organisations who claimed that a sheriff’s decision to impose reporting restrictions in a civil case without providing reasons for making the order breached the principle of “open justice” have had their legal challenge dismissed. The BBC, Times Newspapers Limited and News Gr

The Lord Advocate and Chief Constable of Police Scotland have set clear priorities for the investigation and prosecution of crime as measures to tackle the coronavirus outbreak come in to force. In a joint statement, James Wolffe QC and Iain Livingstone QPM stressed their commitment to keeping peopl

Shepherd and Wedderburn has established a COVID-19 advisory group, which draws relevant, specialist expertise from across the firm to support clients with informed, pragmatic legal advice on the unprecedented challenges posed by the global pandemic. The group comprises specialists who are leaders in

A Glasgow lawyer writes: “An unexpected bonus of home-working is the view from my office window. I’m used to foxy clients but here’s the real thing - crouching down and waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting pigeon. Nature can be cruel – as we are now discovering...”

Four men convicted of the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in 2012 have been hanged. Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh were given death sentences at a trial in 2013.

An international arbitration conference which had been due to take place in Edinburgh in May has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Congress of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA 2020) – the arbitration Olympics – was to have been hosted by the Sc

Jonathan Seddon looks at the potential impact of coronavirus on UK construction projects being procured under JCT. I started looking at the potential impact that the coronavirus might have on my client's construction projects a few weeks ago when the virus hadn’t actually yet arrived in t

The developer obligations and conveyancing teams at Aberdeenshire Council have added to their recent success at the Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning by being named legal team of the year at the SOLAR (Society of Local Authority Lawyers and Administrators) awards.

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. Hope in the Midst of the Coronavirus | Human Rights Watch

A judge known to be the richest in China has been charged with fraud, abuse of her power and taking bribes after it was revealed she had amassed her $200 million fortune through gambling. Zhang Jiahui, 55, former vice-president of the High People’s Court in Hainan province, was indicted after

This week marks the 30th anniversary of the world’s largest unsolved art theft, in which 13 pieces worth around $500 million, including paintings by famous artists such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas and Manet, were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.