Law reform update

European Contract Law

Following on from the discussion session held at the Society in December last year, the Obligations Committee has submitted a written response on the heavily debated EU green paper, which sets out options for a member state-wide contract framework.

Of the seven options contained in the paper, the committee supports option 1, which offers a de facto toolbox containing existing instruments such as the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR). The committee notes that certain points of detail in the DCFR could be improved, and would like to see any convergence on contract law in the immediate to medium term take place incrementally and organically.

Pensions Subcommittee

The subcommittee continues to be very active, with a number of consultation responses submitted in the last few weeks, including draft clauses within the Finance Bill and the impact of using the consumer prices index as the measure of price increases on private sector occupational pension schemes.

Equality Act 2010

The Employment Subcommittee has been considering the issues and interpretation of s 147 of the Equality Act 2010, which defines an “independent adviser”. The committee is currently considering drafting guidance for the Society’s membership in relation to this.

Double Jeopardy (Scotland) Bill

The Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee published its stage 1 report on 26 January.

A number of the Criminal Law Committee’s comments were taken into account in the report. In particular the Justice Committee agreed with the Society’s recommendation that the new-evidence rule should apply to serious crimes only.

The Society submitted a stage 1 letter ahead of the Scottish Parliament’s debate on 3 February.

Reservoirs (Scotland) Bill

The Scottish Parliament approved the general principles of this bill following the stage 1 debate on 27 January. The bill makes provision for the regulation of the construction, alteration and management of certain reservoirs, in particular in relation to the risk of flooding from such reservoirs, and for the repeal and replacement of the Reservoirs Act 1975.

Similar fact evidence

The Criminal Law Committee is currently considering the Scottish Law Commission’s discussion paper Similar Fact Evidence and the Moorov Doctrine (no 145). The paper considers revising the law relating to the admissibility of evidence of bad character or of previous convictions, and the Moorov doctrine. The committee will submit a response by 8 April.

Criminal procedure

The Criminal Law Committee has been invited to give oral evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee regarding the implications of the Criminal Procedure (Legal Assistance, Detention and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 2010.

Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Acts

The Rural Affairs Subcommittee responded to a Scottish Government consultation on proposals to amend the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Acts of 1991 and 2003 for the purpose of removing or reducing burdens currently borne by landlords and tenants of agricultural tenancies as a result of the legislation. The amendments will be introduced by order and are based on recommendations made to the Government by the Tenant Farming Forum (TFF) following a request to investigate perceived barriers to new entrants to the farming sector in Scotland. The subcommittee was mainly content with the provisions in the draft order but raised concerns about the omission of two key elements of the TFF’s recommendations: widening the class of beneficiary who may succeed to a tenancy to include a grandchild; and amending the rent review provisions to prohibit “upward only” and “landlord only” initiated reviews.