Law – School of Law & Social Sciences Blog

The UK Supreme Court on Biological Sex: A Tale of Two Legal Perspectives

Introduction to the Legal Debate At birth, sex is typically recorded as an observable fact, seemingly straightforward, biologically determined, and legally uncontroversial. Yet in a striking turn, this foundational classification has become the subject of constitutional scrutiny, culminating in a landmark 2025 decision by the UK Supreme Court. Originating in the Scottish courts, the case […]

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The EU Directive on Women on Corporate Boards: Steering Out of the Limitations and Leveraging Opportunities

Dr Joy Debski

Synoptic Data Inquiry and Understanding the Directive Although women constitute about 51% of overall population in the EU, statistics show a rather concerning reality that despite accounting for about 60% of recent university graduates, women only account for 32.2% of board members and 8% of board chairs. Conversely, women hold more part-time and lower-paid jobs, with 27.8% employed part-time compared to only

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The Assange Case – A Messy and Unsatisfactory Dénouement

Dr Paul Arnell

On 25 June 2024 Julian Assange left Belmarsh Prison and began the journey back to his native Australia. A deal between the US and Assange was reached whereby he pled guilty to one count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defence information under Title 18 of the US Code in return for

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Time for a constitutional ‘deep clean’? Reflections on constitutional futures after the General Election

Gerry McGee

Current polls for the general election predict a new Labour Government will come to power on 4th July 2024. What might be the constitutional legacy of a future PM Starmer? The Labour Party Manifesto promises the establishment of a new independent Ethics and Integrity Commission. Whatever else a Starmer premiership might achieve, a constitutional ‘deep

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The implications of the reform of the Identification Principle in the United Kingdom’s Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act

Charles Mak

Introduction The United Kingdom (‘UK’)’s legislative landscape is set for a significant shift with the introduction of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (‘the Act’). This critical legislation aims to strengthen corporate governance and accountability and has been the subject of much debate and speculation. At the core of this Act lies a reform

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A Return to the Hart–Fuller Debate – Part II

Dr Hamish Ross

This is Part II of a two-part piece. Part I outlined a few of the elements of the famous Hart–Fuller debate, focusing on HLA Hart’s position. Part II places the emphasis upon Lon Fuller’s response to Hart’s position. Later, in taking stock of the lessons to be learnt from the Hart–Fuller debate viewed in its

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ClientEarth v Shell Plc & Ors.: has an opportunity been missed to reassess directors’ duties vis a vis Climate Change risks?

Dr Joy Debski

In 2023, ClientEarth, a UK environmental activist group, together with other shareholders in Shell, proceeded with a derivative action against the directors of Shell Plc. Holding 27 shares in Shell Plc, ClientEarth attempted to employ a method in which a shareholder can file a lawsuit against a firm’s directors in the name of the company

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The Willy’s Chocolate Experience debacle: a classic case for solatium in damages for breach of contract?

Thorsten Lauterbach

It will have been difficult not to see the tale of woe behind the Willy’s Chocolate Experience, a story that dominated headlines in Scotland and beyond, as it went viral on social media: children and their parents had been looking forward to around an hour of exhilarating entertainment, at up to £35 per ticket, only

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The Continuing Attack upon Human Rights: The Illegal Migration Act 2023

Dr Paul Arnell

The hostility that recent UK governments have shown towards human rights continues unabated. Indeed, it is increasing. It has been manifested in a number of ways. The origins of the antipathy can be traced to certain judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Notable here are Hirst v UK and Al-Skeini v UK.

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Mr Bates v The Post Office and its lessons for the Law of Contract

David Christie

The case of Mr Alan Bates v the Post Office electrified the United Kingdom in the opening weeks of 2024. It has belatedly brought into the full public consciousness the miscarriage of justice where hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly convicted of fraud, as a result of computer software errors. The issues which the case raises

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Scottish Airports’ future with hydrogen – Civil liability and safety considerations

Nicolas Maulet

Progress on hydrogen-electric powertrains signals that UK airports could open to short haul hydrogen-powered air service before the end of the decade. Scottish regional airports, including Aberdeen, announced in November 2022 plans to develop short and medium range hydrogen services with leading hydrogen-electric engine firm ZerioAvia. These regional service prospects may follow projects for hybrid hydrogen

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“Smart Contracts” versus “Smart Legal Contracts”: Shifting Terminology

Dr Joseph Mante and Charles Mak

The notion that smart contracts are not actually contracts is a common assertion found in various writings on the subject. Lawyers can be forgiven for being confused, given that ‘smart contracts’ do not qualify as contracts in the conventional sense. The term ‘contract’ in its noun form consistently denotes some form of agreement or pact.

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Disputes in Paediatric End-of-life Care: Understanding Causes and Pathways to Resolution in NHS Grampian

Dr Sarah Sivers and Margaret Downie

Introduction Disagreeing with another person is difficult and often horrible. It is hard to imagine how much more difficult this is when doctors and parents disagree on the treatment of a child with a life-limiting condition. No such cases have yet come before Scottish courts, but a number have come through English courts, of which

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Managing Sovereign Debt through International Tax Cooperation

Charles Mak

Introduction Historically, sovereign debt is a complicated and diverse issue with substantial repercussions for governments, corporations, and individuals. States may incur debt in the form of bonds or other instruments in order to support public expenditures and investments in infrastructure, social welfare programmes, and military costs. Debt may be a beneficial instrument for funding economic

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Considering the Ethical Implications of Generative AI

Dr Abby Othman Wilson

In the long-established field of artificial intelligence (AI), a new dawn has emerged with the advent of generative AI. Generative AI is a branch of artificial intelligence that creates new content, such as images or text, that appears to be created by humans. This revolutionary technology has captured the attention of researchers, developers, and the

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Decentralised Justice, AI, and the Pursuit of Excellence

Dr Andrey Kotelnikov

In previous years, the absolute favourite topic of my Postgraduate Law class on Online Dispute Resolution was the fascinating realm of new blockchain-based platforms, which always captured the attention and imagination of students. The allure of vast wealth in cryptocurrencies during the bull market, combined with intellectual possibilities like adapting the existing legal framework for

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The sentencing of Sean Hogg and the operation of the Scottish Sentencing Council Guideline on the Sentencing of Young People

Laura Sharp

Introduction Earlier this year, Sean Hogg, aged 21, was convicted by a jury of raping a 13-year-old girl when he was aged 17. He had no previous convictions. He was sentenced in the High Court at Glasgow to a Community Payback Order with a requirement that he carry out 270 hours of unpaid work. He

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Reflections on the Protection of Human Rights

Gerry McGee

Every year a guest speaker from the Government Legal Service for Scotland is invited to give a presentation on an aspect of constitutional law to students on the undergraduate Constitutional law module at RGU Law School. This year our guest speaker was Fraser Gough whose presentation was entitled, ‘An Overview of the protection of human

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A Return to the Hart-Fuller Debate – Part I

Dr Hamish Ross

(This article is in two parts. Part I outlines a few of the elements of the famous Hart-Fuller debate, touching on the relevance of the debate to the events playing out in Eastern Europe (Ukraine and Russia) in the recent past. There are parallels to be drawn between laws enacted in Hitler’s Germany during the

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Human Rights and the War in Ukraine

Carole Lyons

In April 1940, a series of massacres took place in the forests of western USSR. Collectively known as the Katyn Massacre, it involved the mass murder of around 22,000 Polish army officers and intellectuals. Responsibility for these murders was denied until 1990 when, during glasnost, it was acknowledged that the USSR had ordered the killings.

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