News

An Austrian court has ruled that a German tourist who complained about a "photo of a Nazi grandpa hanging in the hall" in a guesthouse had no right to air his grievance on travel websites. The tourist posted the comments online in response to the picture of a Wehrmacht soldier in uniform.

A man found guilty of sexual assault with intent to rape who claimed that the sheriff’s directions to the jury were “prejudicial” has had an appeal against his conviction rejected. Graham Paterson, who had admitted sexually assaulting the complainer but denied any intent to rape, a

There is a backlog of more than 14,000 unresolved criminal cases in Scotland's courts, The Sunday Post reports. Thousands of police reports given to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) have not been decided upon, with the number of cases waiting to be "marked" by prosecutors havin

The Supreme Court will begin hearing Brexit-related appeals from tomorrow. The Inner House of the Court of Session ruled last week that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's advice to the Queen to prorogue Parliament was ‘unlawful’.

The Church of Scotland is seeking a share of £2 million paid for Viking treasure discovered on land it owns in Dumfries and Galloway. A case has been lodged at the Court of Session against metal detectorist Derek McLennan, who unearthed the hoard in 2014.

The Scottish government has called for greater powers over immigration policy to "protect Scotland’s economy, public services and future population growth". The call comes after the UK government said this week it would reverse its 2012 decision to scrap a post-study work visa for internationa

Greg MacDougall reflects on access to justice and looks at the past, present and future of the resolution of claims in Scotland The promotion of access to justice for the resolution of claims in a fair and balanced way is an admirable aim. How should we gauge access to justice?

Raeburn Christie Clark & Wallace (RCCW) has announced the retirement of partner Stewart Smith following a career at the company spanning three decades.    Mr Smith joined the firm in 1990, and was named partner just a year later. During his time at RCCW, he has worked on all types of l

The Herald has published a full obituary of Roy Martin QC, who passed away last month at the age of 69. Lord Woolman told The Herald: “Roy was a man with a brilliant legal brain and a powerful and independent mind. As an advocate he had the knack of having the ‘ear of the court’ -

The UK's largest digital rights conference is coming to Scotland on 26 October.

A solid gold toilet worth £4.8 million has been stolen from Blenheim Palace. Two days after the artwork went on display at the Duke of Marlborough's country home, burglars broke into the palace and ripped it from the wall, leaving in their wake “significant damage and flooding”.

The Prime Minister’s advice to HM The Queen that parliamentary business at Westminster should be suspended for five weeks in the run up to “Brexit” undermined a “central pillar” of the constitution that the Government was accountable to Parliament. The Inner House

A special power of the Court of Session has been brought to bear on Prime Minister Boris Johnson personally and could allow the Clerk of Court to sign in his place – forcing him to extend Article 50. Dr Stephen Thomson, the leading authority on the nobile officium, which al

The High Court in Belfast has dismissed three conjoined applications challenging the UK Government’s Brexit strategy, which the applicants argued would result in a no-deal Brexit and a hard border in breach of the Good Friday Agreement. Finding that the subject matter of the applications was "

The Scottish Prison Service faces profound challenges in continuing to run Scotland's overcrowded prisons safely and effectively. A report by the Auditor General for the Scottish Parliament says the service's revenue budget reduced by 12.5 per cent in real terms between 2014/15 and 2018/19, from &po