Opinion

Scotland's commercial property sector stands to benefit from proposed reforms to business rates – on which the Scottish government is currently consulting, writes Alan Cook. The Scottish government's consultation paper sets out its proposed approach to various aspects of the Barclay Review of

A Court of Session or Sheriff Court action can be raised for the sole purpose of obtaining security pending the outcome of a case being decided in a foreign court, according to the recent Inner House case of AA v Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Commission for

John Forsyth looks at the revival of the Notable British Trials series. The first Notable Scottish Trial, Trial of Madeleine Smith, was published in the autumn of 1905. It was published by William Hodge and Company whose intent that it would be the first of a series was clear from the plural Notable

The recent decision in ICI v Merit Merrell Technology is the latest in a series of decisions in the dispute – described by Mr Justice Fraser as ‘long-running, and bitterly fought’ – relating to steelworks to be carried out by MMT at a new paint manufacturing facilit

A case involving the iconic luxury handbag designer Mulberry has looked at the law around discrimination on the grounds of a rather unusual philosophical belief, writes Claire Scott. Ms Gray worked as a market support assistant for Mulberry and had access to some of Mulberry’s design

A recent widely reported settled claim by a hospitality worker highlighted the controversy that continues to persist with Zero Hour Contracts (ZHC).  Kenny Scott considers the issues that often surround this form of employment arrangement and highlights why ZHC’s still have an import

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” or so the saying goes. But ask a brand holder what they think of imitation and I would bet a decent amount of money that “flattering” is not one of the adjectives they use, writes Neeraj Thomas. RedPoint are a US company who have

Jenny Dickson discusses the details of a bill that would give ministers the power to recover certain costs for NHS Scotland that are associated with the treatment of industrial disease-related illnesses. It's an advert we see regularly on daytime TV: “Have you been in an accident or do you hav

Company voluntary arrangements (CVAS) are very much in vogue. Why? Growth of online shopping, Brexit uncertainty, increased export costs, drop in consumer confidence and spend, increases in business rates, rising labour costs and long-term inflexible lease costs. All of these been cited as factors c

John McArthur calls for an overhaul of Britain's creaking inheritance tax regime. The problem with our existing tax system is that it’s now overly complicated and when even HMRC’s own system can’t work out the correct income tax liability that a taxpayer has to pay, that must raise

Lewis Richardson discusses a recent decision from the Sheriff Appeal Court in the case of Cabot Financial UK Ltd v Gardner and Ors, [2018] SAC (Civ) 12. The appeal related to debt recovery cases for assigned credit card debts. The three cases which formed the judgment in Cabot were raised under the

The licensed trade in Scotland is facing an almighty hangover caused by the legal requirement to renew personal licences which are required for pubs, clubs, hotels and restaurants, writes Audrey Ferrie. First introduced by the Scottish government in 2009, a named Premises Manager must hold a pe

Break notices are precarious enough, but some recent cases have suggested that there are occasions when actual receipt of a break notice has to be demonstrated for it to be effective. That can create a significant hurdle for the sender, writes Matt Farrell. In Gateway Assets Limited v C.V. Panels Li

At the same time as Parliament prepares to ‘take back control’ from Brussels, the executive is in fact accruing to itself further control over the legislative process. In this post Professor Stephen Tierney addresses a number of trends – only some of which are a direct consequence

With Scotland’s new tribunals structure now progressively coming into operation, lawyers and other interested parties might do well to start updating their internet browser favourites so as to keep up to date with the latest news, write Mitchell Skilling and Douglas Bain. The First-tier T