Letter

Dear Editor, I’m relieved that I won’t have to learn about the new Registers of Moveable Transactions, as these days my interests lie in other fields (perhaps waters would be a better term as I contemplate the approach of the sailing season) but the news reminded me of a story that my fa

Dear Editor, The Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill continued to wend its way through the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday with the adoption of the Justice Secretary's amendment 146. The amendment deleted the original proposal to move from 15 to 12 jurors in criminal trials,

I read with interest the article on the Scottish Law Agents Society survey run by Darren Murdoch. I will not be responding as I have not been in practice for almost 30 years – an era when regulation was a very different thing – and came off the roll over a decade ago. No locus? No skin i

Dear Editor, Ian Moir is a truly deserving recipient of SLN's lawyer of the month award. His dogged commitment for a number of years to the campaign on legal aid culminating in the recent unprecedented publicity is exceptional. The commitment of the government to reform the system in 2026 is a token

Dear Editor, Your article in SLN regarding Aamer Anwar & Co's decision to stop taking legal aid cases depicts a very sad situation in Scotland. The fact that that decision has been the result of the Scottish government’s lack of commitment to funding a fair legal aid system and access to j

Dear Editor, In your article in relation to the late Len Murray you reported that Tony Miller was the last ever prisoner to be hanged in Scotland.

Dear Editor,  Your story last week on the Council of Europe's biannual European Judicial Systems CEPEJ Evaluation Report revealed some interesting statistics and commentary on how Scotland compares with European neighbours on a range of measures.

Dear Editor, It is astonishing to me that in the current brouhaha concerning the plaque on the Melville monument that no mention has been made of the judicial oppression of democratic reformers that was orchestrated by Henry Dundas and his nephew Robert, whom Uncle Henry ensured was appointed lord a

Dear editor Your item of 18 July headlined Scots lawyers using dating apps to cheat warned about professionalism states that solicitors have been "cautioned by the Law Society" through an article in the Journal by our pseudonymous contributor The Unloved Lawyer.

Dear Editor, Douglas Cusine writes that there is “no evidence” that jurors subscribe to rape myths. He states that the “only way one could get ‘evidence’ would be to sit in during a jury’s deliberations, or interview jurors afterwards” and rightly points out

The Justice Secretary, Angela Constance, in arguing in favour of non-jury trials for certain sexual offences, keeps repeating that there is “evidence” that jurors take into consideration factors which are irrelevant; what she describes as “rape myths” – for example not

Dear Editor, I applaud the reasoned contribution of Lord Uist to the proposals for juryless rape trials contained in the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill.

Dear Editor, As Thomas Ross notes in yesterday’s Scottish Legal News, the current common law requires provocation in a murder case to take the form of sexual infidelity or physical violence. Mr Ross sought comments on the Scottish Law Commission’s provisional view that the partial defenc

Dear Editor, On 23 Jan 2023 you reported that Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTOs) were standing at their lowest number (360) over the preceding eight years which had averaged 560 Orders per annum.

Dear Editor,