Festival of Politics event

This event began with the entertaining and exceptionally well informed Michael Clancy giving some quick background on the development of Scottish law over the last 1200 years. Clancy was particularly illuminating in describing how Scottish law, seen by some as quite self-contained, has been deeply affected by developments in Europe from its earliest beginnings under King David, through to the modern day when well over half of the laws in Scotland derive from EU directives.

After Clancy’s address, the floor was opened to questions along various themes including ‘Law – too much or too little?’ and ‘Law – for the public good or for political expediency?’ As anyone who attends events such as this involving unvetted access for members of the public, there is inevitably a small but vocal contingent in attendance who bear grudges against lawyers and the legal system in general, and use the occasion to air them.

This event had its quota of such people and after initial claims from questioners about ‘whitewashes’ and people being ‘silenced by the Establishment’, a series of interesting and informative debates evolved. On the Scottish Parliament and its role in law making, Clancy said the “Scottish Parliament creates an environment for traditions (of Scottish law) to be kept, alive, nurtured, watered.)

On the issue of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Smart asked whether making ADR compulsory would defeat the purpose of it being an ‘alternative.’ Asked about the decision to hold key hearings like those surrounding the Lockerbie case in closed court, Smart said that the nature of some crimes meant that open court is not always possible, but that care had to be taken to avoid a situation such as that found in the English Family Court, where excessive use of closed courts had led many to question the justice of some decisions.

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