1 day agoLegislation class — drafting assessment 2023I have in previous years shared the drafting assessments we set in the Legislation (honours) class at Edinburgh University — where students are asked to prepare a bill based on instructions which are drawn from a real consultation paper making a proposal for a members bill in the scottish parliament…Legislation Honours12 min readLegislation Honours12 min read
Jan 4Books read 2023Books read 2023 For what it is worth I thought I would gather details of the books I read this year. Ellis Peters, A morbid taste for bones The first Cadfael novel. I have watched the TV series and listened to radio versions with Philip Madoc. This is the first…Books13 min readBooks13 min read
Sep 29, 2022Talk at launch of Floating Charges in Scotland : new perspectives and current issues (eds Hardman and MacPherson) (EUP)This is the full text of a talk I gave at Old College last night at the launch of Floating CHarges in Scotland. The book is excellent and should be of interest in Scotland and beyond (for some reasons which I tried to explain) https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-floating-charges-in-scotland.html It is a pleasure to…Scots Law10 min readScots Law10 min read
Sep 9, 2022Why did Queen’s Counsel automatically become King’s Counsel? Parliament and the Demise of the Crown Act 1901The Demise of the Crown Act 1901 and its parliamentary history Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8th September 2022 the Bar council announced that “We have been advised by the Crown office that the title QC changes to KC with immediate effect. The change is automatic so…Legislation6 min readLegislation6 min read
Jun 4, 2022Legislative drafting exercise for students — 2022AN INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE The legislation (honours) class we run at Edinburgh is a class for third and fourth year LLB students. In a typical Scottish LLB students will do two years of advanced courses, having completed two years of ordinary modules. So all students who do this class…Legal Education12 min readLegal Education12 min read
Dec 15, 2021Some quick thoughts on Ewan Forbes Sempill and issues in Scots lawI posted a series of queries about the work by Prof Zoe Playdon relating to the Ewan Forbes Sempill case. Prof Playdon has chosen to write on a Scottish legal case but regrettably lacks familiarity with Scots law (and certain aspects of English law) and it appears that a central…Ewan Forbes Sempill8 min readEwan Forbes Sempill8 min read
Oct 10, 2021Schrodinger smiled — fragmented memories for World Mental Health Dayi She leans across, touches your arm, inclined head, and with lowered voice, asks, Are you okay? You want the hand off your arm, but that won’t happen until you answer, might not happen even then. So you rush through the possibilities of how bad you must look for someone…World Mental Health Day29 min readWorld Mental Health Day29 min read
Apr 1, 2021Assessing legislative drafting for undergraduate LLB students (with an exercise used in 2020)This post is in response to a couple of queries I have had about assessing legislative drafting for undergraduate LLB students. …Legislation8 min readLegislation8 min read
Feb 21, 2021Submission to Justice Committee on Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill freedom of expression amendmentsFreedom of expression options to Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill 1. My name is Scott Wortley. I am a lecturer in law at the University of Edinburgh and have a particular interest in issues relating to legislation and statutory interpretation. 2. I note the proposals which have been…Legislation12 min readLegislation12 min read
Jan 4, 2021COvid restrictions on gatherings and movement — ScotlandCOvid restrictions on gatherings and movement — Scotland I thought it might be useful to incorporate today’s amendments into the existing law to have them in one place pending the changes being added on the legislation.gov.uk website. The main Scottish regulations for level 4 are here https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2020/344/schedule/5. The amendments are…10 min read10 min read
