Opinion

Shockwaves reverberated through the cycling community recently when a jury returned a ‘not proven’ verdict against a car driver, Jordan McDowall, following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow. The 21-year-old was acquitted of causing the death of 51 year-old cyclist, Kevin Gilchrist, by

Greenpeace has failed in its challenge to the grant of consent to drill at BP's Vorlich field, East of Aberdeen. The decision of the Inner House of the Court of Session earlier this month is the latest in a rapidly growing series of activist challenges to the approvals or permits for oil and gas, ma

Malcolm Combe, lecturer in law at Strathclyde University and chair of the Land and Human Rights Advisory Forum, looks at the relevance of land and human rights now and what the work of the newly-established forum hopes to achieve.  This is a blog post about the new land and human rights forum,

The term "zoonotic disease" is one which has entered the public vocabulary in the past 18 months as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, for those working with livestock, zoonoses aren't a new concern. A recent Health & Safety prosecution highlights the serious consequences for businesses

Philip Alston, the John Norton Pomeroy professor of law at NYU School of Law, argues that gender diversity on the International Court of Justice must be taken more seriously. In Is There a Special Practice?, Antonios Tzanakopoulos has written a very learned post seeking to dispel the notion that the

A three year limitation period applies in the majority of injury claims in both Scotland and England, with the courts in both jurisdictions having equitable discretion to allow a claim to proceed despite being issued late. This raises the question of the effect in this context of a period of delay o

We will hear lots about net-zero targets and tackling climate change in the coming weeks as COP26 arrives in Glasgow. Scotland has set itself the ambitious target of reducing emissions of all greenhouse gases to net zero by 2045. The rest of the UK, in common with most other countries, is targeting

When 12 ships from the Crimean port of Kaffa docked at Messina, Sicily, in October 1347 they carried more than onward consignments of exotic articles from the ancient oriental silk route. They also brought the bacterium versinia pestis. This had been passed from rodents and fleas to the ships’

With the business use of artificial intelligence (AI) on the rise, there are key legal and contractual risks that businesses using, or supplying, AI need to consider, writes Phillip Kelly. As with most contracts for the sale of products, any contract for the supply or provision of AI is likely to co

A clear correlation can be observed between an economic downturn and the number of claims against professionals for negligence that come before the courts. During the economic crisis of 2008 and subsequent years, the number of claims for negligence rose considerably. Noticeably, lenders, including h

Ariane Burgess MSP, convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee Agenda, is urging Scottish residents to have their say on short-term lets legislation. Scotland has some of the most beautiful natural scenery in the world. It is no wonder that plac

Douglas Adams said “we live in strange times” and Plato added to his own comment about “strange times” the words: “and he who dares tell the truth is called at once a lunatic and fool/liar.”

Dr Kath Murray, Lucy Hunter Blackburn and Lisa Mackenzie of MurrayBlackburnMackenzie take issue with the omission of the sex characteristic in Scotland’s hate crime framework and the lack of transparency in the work of the Kennedy group. Following the sentencing of Wayne Couzens for the k

Immigration lawyer Jack Freeland looks at the latest rules for UK-US travel. The UK eased its restrictions on American travellers in July, and both sides of the pond are once again open for business. As such, it is timely to restate the procedure for applying for a UK spouse or partner visa from the

Solicitor advocate Andrew Stevenson, secretary of the Scottish Law Agents’ Society, points out the irony in the bizarre remarks of the Scottish Greens yesterday that this week's Supreme Court judgment marked a "dark day for democracy". Their claims call into question the independence of the Br