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These cases are from the lawindexpro database. They are now being transferred to the swarb.co.uk website in a better form. As a case is published there, an entry here will link to it. The swarb.co.uk site includes many later cases.  















Scotland - From: 1930 To: 1959

This page lists 185 cases, and was prepared on 20 May 2019.

 
Hughes v Robertson [1930] SC 394
1930


Scotland, Wills and Probate
The widow sought damages for an unauthorised autopsy carried out upon the body of her late husband.
1 Citers


 
Gollan v Thompson Wyles Company 1930 SC 599
1930


Scotland, Defamation
Lord President Clyde discussed the order of consideration of the elements of defamation: "The question of the admissibility of an innuendo necessarily arises in Scotland at the relevancy stage. If - as here - the statement complained of is not defamatory in its own terms, it is for the pursuer to aver on record what he says it really means, and to set out in his pleadings any circumstances (leading up to or surrounding the utterance of the statement, or affecting the minds of those to whom it was uttered) which may throw light on its true meaning. What then is the test which the Court must apply in determining the admissibility of an innuendo. It is, I think, necessary to look behind the generality of the question - Can the statement bear the meaning which the pursuer puts upon it? - for there is no end to the ambiguity of words, written and spoken, even when construed in the light of the circumstances in which they were used." and "The test of admissibility is therefore not whether the statement is capable of construction as an attack upon the pursuer's character, for that leaves the answer open to a wide range of conjecture. It is whether the statement itself, and the circumstances in which it is alleged to have been made, provide grounds for a reasonable inference that an attack upon the pursuer's character was intended."
1 Citers



 
 Salvesen's Trustees v Inland Revenue Commissioners; SCS 1930 - 1930 SLT 387
 
Rutherford v Lord Advocate 1931 SLT 405
1931

Lord Fleming
Income Tax, Scotland
The taxpayer lived in Scotland but was assessed to tax in respect of director's fees paid to him by a company carrying on business in England. The assessment was confirmed by county general commissioners. The tax not having been paid, execution was levied on the taxpayer's furniture in Scotland. The taxpayer applied to the Court of Session to set aside this diligence. Held: The Court of Session could not set aside the determination of the commissioners. For that the taxpayer must resort to the English courts. But it was competent for the taxpayer to invoke the 'preventive jurisdiction' to stop the diligence of which he complained.
1 Citers


 
Riach v Lord Advocate (1931) 18 TC 18
1931
SCS
Lord President Clyde, Lord Blackburn
Scotland, Taxes Management
The court considered the issue of a reward to a revenue informer: "the value of the result of the information . . may prove to be nothing for reasons of which the informer may be totally unaware, eg, that the Inland Revenue authorities may already be in possession of much of the information which the informer believes to be confined to himself."
Inland Revenue Regulation Act 1890 34
1 Citers


 
Will v Sneddon Campbell and Munro 1931 SC 164
1931
SCS
Lord Hunter, Lord Justice Clerk Alness
Scotland, Litigation Practice
Lord Hunter said: "It is well settled, no doubt, that, if a man is bankrupt and if he is divested of his estate, he is not entitled to sue an action unless he finds caution. But that is only a general rule; there are exceptions even to that. On the other hand, there is no general rule to the effect that, unless a man has been rendered bankrupt and his estates have been sequestrated, he cannot be ordained by the court to find caution. Even short of bankruptcy, I think there may be circumstances in which a pursuer might be ordained to find caution."
Lord Justice Clerk Alness said that the history of the litigation was an element which could be taken into consideration and that, while none of the considerations in that case might of itself have been sufficient, their cumulative effect seemed to him to justify the order.
1 Citers


 
Macdonald v Macdonald's Executrix [1932] UKHL 3; 1932 SC (HL) 79; 1932 SLT 381
28 Jun 1932
HL

Scotland, Wills and Probate
Claim of legitim.
[ Bailii ]
 
Came v City of Glasgow Friendly Society [1932] ScotCS CSIH - 1
24 Nov 1932
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Bell v Secretary of State for Scotland 1933 SLT 519
1933


Scotland
The Lord Ordinary granted interim interdict against the respondent. There was no any contradictor and the court relied on two English cases.
1 Citers


 
Naftalin v LMS Railway [1933] ScotCS CSIH - 1
18 Jan 1933
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]

 
 Barras v Aberdeen Steam Trawling and Fishing Co; HL 17-Mar-1933 - [1933] UKHL 3; (1933) 45 Ll L Rep 199; [1933] All ER Rep 52; 1933 SC (HL) 21; [1933] AC 402; 1933 SLT 338
 
Miller's Trustees v Brown [1933] ScotCS CSIH - 2
13 Jul 1933
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Gallacher v Gallacher [1934] ScotCS CSIH - 1
23 Feb 1934
SCS

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Leadbetter v Hutcheson [1934] ScotHC HCJ - 2
23 May 1934
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]
 
Sugden v Hma [1934] ScotHC HCJ - 1
12 Jul 1934
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]
 
Hma v Mcphee [1934] ScotHC HCJ - 3
18 Dec 1934
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]
 
Elliot v Mackie and Sons Ltd; Elliot v Whyte 1935 SC 81
1935

Lord President Clyde
Scotland, Company
Executors of the deceased founder of the company had executed transfers of shares in favour of two of their number and a third party to qualify them as directors of the company under the articles, the trustees and executors wanting adequate representation on the board of directors. The certificates were endorsed to show that the transfers were purely nominal and done only in order to enable the transferees to qualify as directors, the beneficial interest remaining in the transferors. This initiative was objected to by some of the beneficiaries under the deceased's testamentary settlement. They said that registration of the transfers was ultra vires of the company because the company's articles provided that shares must be held by a director "in his own name and right", and that the register should be rectified because the transferees' names had without sufficient cause been entered in the register. Held: The argument that registration of the transfers was ultra vires of the company because the shares were not held in the transferees' own right as they had no beneficial interest in them was rejected. It was practice for notice of trusts to be taken in company registers. But Lord President Clyde did not think that this made the relation between the registered trustee and the company in any way different from that which existed in the case of other shareholders. Applying Muir v City of Glasgow Bank (1878) 6 R 392, a trustee has the full right of property in the shares and consequently incurs personally the full liabilities of a shareholder. He added these words: "The matter is one in which it is most undesirable to have different interpretations, north and south of the Border, of an expression in common use in the articles of companies whose affairs are regulated by a legislative system which is intended to apply, generally, to both countries; and, whatever view might have been taken – had the matter arisen rebus integris – I think it is too late to open a question which (in England) authority and practice, and (in Scotland) practice conform to that authority, has closed."
The expression in common use to which this passage refers is the provision in the company's articles that the qualification was the holding of a certain number of shares in the director's "own name and right." The decisive issue was the effect of the entry of the transferees' names on the register as members of the company, as to which the law on both sides of the Border is the same. The fact that the certificates on the back of the transfers disclosed that the transfers were purely nominal was insufficient to prevent shares that were actually held in trust from constituting a director's qualification.
Lord Morison said that it was of no concern to the company whether the shareholder was the owner of the shares which he held, or whether third parties were the owners or had interests in them.
1 Cites

1 Citers


 
Mackintosh's Jf v Lord Advocate [1935] ScotCS CSIH - 1
1 Feb 1935
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Elliot v Joicey [1935] UKHL 3; 1935 SC (HL) 57; [1935] AC 209
14 Feb 1935
HL
Lord Tomlin
Wills and Probate, Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Mcbeath's Trustees v Mcbeath [1935] ScotCS CSIH - 2
19 Feb 1935
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Burns v Burns' Trustees [1935] ScotCS CSIH - 3
19 Jul 1935
SCS

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Thomson and Balfour (A Firm) v Boag and Son [1935] ScotCS CSIH - 5
11 Oct 1935
SCS

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Balfour's Trustees v Johnston [1935] ScotCS CSIH - 4
29 Nov 1935
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Paton v HMA [1935] ScotHC HCJAC - 1
20 Dec 1935
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]
 
X Insurance Co Ltd v A and B [1935] ScotCS CSIH - 6
20 Dec 1935
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]

 
 Bruce v H M Advocate; HCJ 1936 - 1936 JC 93

 
 HM Advocate v McGuigan; HCJ 1936 - 1936 JC 16
 
Findlay v Blaylock [1936] ScotCS CSIH - 1
29 Oct 1936
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Donald v Shiell's Executrix [1936] ScotCS CSIH - 2
13 Nov 1936
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Marquis of Bute v Mckirdy [1936] ScotCS CSIH - 3
11 Dec 1936
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Aitkin's Executor v Aitken [1937] ScotCS CSIH - 1
6 May 1937
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Mackay and Esslemont v Lord Advocate [1937] ScotCS CSOH - 2
16 Jul 1937
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Ward v Robertson [1937] ScotHC HCJ - 1
10 Nov 1937
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]

 
 Allenby (Benjamin) v HM Advocate; HCJ 30-Nov-1937 - [1937] ScotHC HCJAC - 2; 1938 JC 55; 1938 SLT 150
 
Robertson v Balfour 1938 SC 207
1938

Aitchison
Scotland, Contract
The rule against enforcing a gaming contract is so clear that the Court will not take cognizance of a supervening contract which is subsidiary to, and flows from, the original gaming contract. The court distinguished these contracts from, this case where the contract was not purely collateral or incidental to the gaming contract.
1 Citers


 
Macdonald's Trustee v Macdonald 1938 SC 536
1938


Scotland, Insolvency
So much income received by a debtor as exceeds his needs, as determined by the Sheriff, may require to be paid to the permanent trustee. The 1921 Act did not override
Police Pensions Act 1921 14(1) - Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1913 98(2)
1 Citers



 
 Parsons v Inland Revenue Commissioners; SCS 6-Jan-1938 - [1938] ScotCS CSIH - 1
 
Kerr v Brown [1938] ScotCS CSIH - 2
7 Dec 1938
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]

 
 The El Condado; SCS 1939 - [1939] 63 L1L Rep 330
 
Kirkwood v Hma [1939] ScotHC HCJAC - 1
10 Feb 1939
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]
 
Government of the Republic of Spain v National Bank of Scotland [1939] ScotCS CSIH - 1; 1939 SLT 317; 1939 SC 413; (1939) 63 Ll L Rep 330
24 Feb 1939
SCS
Lord Justice-Clerk Aitchison
Scotland, Transport
Lord Justice-Clerk Aitchison considered a provision claiming extra territorial effect, and said: "such 'decrees' of a foreign country as purport to have extra-territorial effect, and to attach property in a subject situated, and at a time when it is situated, within this country or its territorial waters, will not be recognised by our laws and courts."
1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
Kemp v Burgh of Largs [1939] UKHL 1
30 Mar 1939
HL
Lord Russell of Killowen
Scotland, Land

[ Bailii ]
 
Stonehaven Magazines v Kincardine Cc [1939] ScotCS CSIH - 2
19 Jul 1939
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Kelly v Murphy [1939] ScotCS CSIH - 3
3 Nov 1939
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Kelly v Murphy 1940 SC 96
1940


Contract, Scotland
The court declined to enforce a contract as a wager where it involved determining the winner of a game or contest.

 
Crofter Hand Woven Harris Tweed Co Ltd v Veitch Unreported 1940
1940
SCS
Lord Justice Clerk Aitchison, Lord Jamieson
Scotland, Torts - Other
Lord Justice Clerk Aitchison said: "When the end of a combination is not a crime or a tort in the accepted sense, and the means are not in the accepted sense criminal or tortious - cases which give rise to no difficulty - the question always is - What is the real purpose of the combination? If it is to injure, without reference to anyone's lawful gain, or the enjoyment of one's rights, or the furtherance of one's legitimate interests, then what is done may become a wrongful act and be actionable. If, on the other hand, the real purpose of the combination is to further the lawful interests of the parties to it- these not necessarily being identical interests - no wrong is committed even when the means, employed not being in themselves illegal, are calculated, and even intended, to injure the persons against whom they are directed."
dissentiente Lord Mackay
1 Cites

1 Citers



 
 Lissenden v CAV Bosch Ltd; HL 1940 - [1940] AC 412; [1940] 1 All ER 405
 
Mars v Glasgow Corporation [1940] ScotCS CSIH - 1
2 Feb 1940
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Bell v Bell [1940] ScotCS CSIH - 2
16 Feb 1940
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
McDonald v Burns 1940 SLT 325; 1940 SC 376; [1940] ScotCS CSIH - 3
29 Mar 1940
SCS
Lord Justice-Clerk Aitchison
Scotland

1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
Aberdeen Varieties Ltd v James F Donald (Aberdeen Cinemas) Ltd [1940] UKHL 4; 1940 SLT 374; 1940 SC (HL) 52
2 Jul 1940
HL

Scotland, Litigation Practice

[ Bailii ]
 
Burn's Trustees v Mckenna [1940] ScotCS CSIH - 4
12 Jul 1940
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Mcphail's Trustees v Mcphail [1940] ScotCS CSIH - 5
23 Jul 1940
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Rutherford v Miln [1940] ScotCS CSIH - 6
13 Dec 1940
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
O'Hara v Central Scotland Motor Traction Co. Ltd [1941] ScotCS CSIH - 1
25 Mar 1941
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Hma v Hill [1941] ScotHC HCJ - 1
16 Apr 1941
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]
 
Inglis v London, Midland and Scottish Railway Co [1941] ScotCS CSIH - 2
3 Jul 1941
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Duguid v Fraser [1941] ScotHC HCJAC - 2
17 Sep 1941
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]
 
Swaine v Demetriades [1941] ScotCS CSIH - 3
21 Oct 1941
SCS

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Mackeson v Boyd 1942 SC 56; 1942 SLT 106; [1941] ScotCS CSIH - 4
7 Nov 1941
SCS
Lord Patrick
Scotland, Landlord and Tenant
The pursuer had taken a lease of a furnished country residence but came to be able to occupy a small part of the property, after the main residence was requisitioned for the war effort. Held: Speedie's casedid apply, and: " the tests to be applied in deciding whether there has been total or partial eviction from subjects leased are the same in the case of eviction by the action of the executive as in the case of eviction resulting from rei interitus."
1 Cites

[ Bailii ]
 
Fortington v Lord Kinnaird [1942] ScotCS CSIH - 1
26 Mar 1942
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Bourhill v Young's Executor [1943] AC 92; [1943] SC (HL) 78; 1943 SLT 105; [1942] UKHL 5
5 Aug 1942
HL
Lord MacMillan, Lord Wright, Lord Russell of Killowen
Personal Injury, Damages, Scotland, Negligence
When considering claims for damages for shock, the court only recognised the action lying where the injury by shock was sustained 'through the medium of the eye or the ear without direct contact.' Wright L said: "No doubt, it has long ago been stated and often restated that if the wrong is established the wrongdoer must take the victim as he finds him. That, however, is only true . . on the condition that the wrong has been established or admitted. The question of liability is anterior to the question of the measure of the consequences which go with the liability."
Lord Russell of Killowen: "In considering whether a person owes to another a duty a breach of which will render him liable to that other in damages for negligence, it is material to consider what the defendant ought to have contemplated as a reasonable man. This consideration may play a double role. It is relevant in cases of admitted negligence (where the duty and breach are admitted) to the question of remoteness of damage, ie, to the question of compensation not to culpability, but it is also relevant in testing the existence of a duty as the foundation of the alleged negligence, ie, to the question of culpability not to compensation."
1 Cites

1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
Equity and Law Life Assurance Society v Tritonia Ltd 1943 SC (HL) 88
1943
HL
Viscount Simon LC
Scotland, Company, Litigation Practice
Viscount Simon LC said: "When an appeal is argued before the House of Lords, no one has any right of audience except counsel instructed on behalf of a party or (when the litigant is a natural person) the party himself. In the case of a corporation, inasmuch as the artificial entity cannot attend and argue personally, the right of audience is necessarily limited to counsel instructed on the corporation's behalf . . Such a rule limiting a right of audience on behalf of others to members of the English or Scottish or Northern Irish bars, secures that the House will be served by barristers or advocates who observe the rules of their profession, who are subject to a disciplinary code, and who are familiar with the methods and scope of advocacy which are followed in presenting arguments to this House".
1 Citers


 
Muir's Trustees v Williams 1943 SC (HL) 47
1943
HL
Lord Thankerton
Trusts, Scotland
The law against perpetuities in Scotland is entirely of statutory origin.
1 Citers


 
Waterson's Trustees v St Giles Boys' Club 1943 SC 369
1943
IHCS

Scotland, Trusts
The House considered a testamentary direction by the testatrix to give effect to any "informal writing under my hand". At her death she left holograph directions, but they were not subscribed with a signature. Held: This document was not "under hand". The Lord Justice-Clerk said: "According to the normal acceptation of the words, a document "under my hand" means a document signed (i.e., subscribed) by me; and an informal document "under my hand" means a document signed by me which is defective either in form or expression, or in solemnities of authentication, or in both. For the purpose of determining whether a document is "under the hand" of the granter, the signature is more than a mere formality or solemnity, and its unique significance as the recognised and indispensable token of deliberate authorisation of a written document, whether formal or informal, has long been accepted by common usage. In this context the word "hand" is a synonym for "signature," as in the once familiar phrases of the older testing clause "As witness my hand," or "I have hereto set my hand," and the term is still found in modern statutory phraseology in the references in the Stamp Acts to instruments and agreements "under hand only." It is, of course, possible for a testator to make it plain that he is using this, or any other, expression in a special sense, and in such a case the settlement will provide its own vocabulary, and the special sense will prevail. But in the ordinary case the words used must receive their ordinary significance."
1 Citers


 
Clark's Exr v Clark [1943] ScotCS CSIH - 1
2 Feb 1943
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Waterson v St Giles Boys' Club [1943] ScotCS CSIH - 2
24 Mar 1943
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Magistrates of Banff v Ruthin Castle Ltd [1943] ScotCS CSIH - 3
3 Dec 1943
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Steel v Glasgow Iron and Steel Co Ltd 1944 SC 237
1944

Lord Justice Clerk Cooper
Scotland, Damages, Negligence
The question was whether the actions of the deceased had broken the chain of causation when he intervened in an attempt to save property. "This rule of the 'reasonable and probable consequence' is a key that opens several locks; for it not only fixes the nature and the measure of the duty to take care, but it may also aid in determining whether the causal nexus is complete and, perhaps, whether the damages claimed are too remote."
1 Cites

1 Citers


 
Lyon v Don Brothers, Buist and Co 1944 JC 1
1944

Lord Justice General Normand
Health and Safety, Scotland
Lord Justice General Normand said that the circumstances which can reasonably be expected by an employer in the context of health and safety "include a great deal more than the staid, prudent, well-regulated conduct of men diligently attentive to their work".
1 Citers


 
Stirland v Director of Public Prosecutions [1944] AC 315; (1945) 30 Crim App R 40
1944
HL
Viscount Simon LC
Criminal Practice, Scotland
The House considered what was the appropriate test for allowing a conviction to stand despite the finding of an irregularity in the trial. Held: The House must be satisfied that there was "a situation a reasonable jury, after being properly directed, would, on the evidence properly admissible, without doubt convict." Assuming the wrong direction on law or the irregularity had not occurred and the trial had been free from legal error, would the only reasonable and proper verdict have been one of guilty?
Viscount Simon LC: 'the provision that the Court of Criminal Appeal may dismiss the appeal if they consider that no substantial miscarriage of justice has actually occurred in convicting the accused assumes a situation where a reasonable jury, after being properly directed, would on the evidence, properly admissible, without doubt convict.' It is a high and exacting test and we have come to be of the view, that it has not been passed in the present case." Where the verdict is criticised on the ground that the jury were permitted to consider inadmissible evidence, the question is whether no reasonable jury, after a proper summing up, could have failed to convict the appellant on the rest of the evidence to which no objection could be taken on the ground of its inadmissibility.
The word "charged" means "charged in court", not merely suspected or accused without subsequent prosecution.
1 Citers



 
 Drummond's Judicial Factor v LA; SCS 9-May-1944 - [1944] ScotCS CSIH - 1
 
Dewar v Her Majesty's Advocate [1944] ScotHC HCJAC - 1
17 Nov 1944
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]

 
 Docherty v H M Advocate; 1945 - 1945 J C 89
 
Irving v Minister of Pensions 1945 SC 31
1945
SCS
Lord Justice Clerk Cooper
Scotland, Evidence, Benefits
Appeals were against decisions of Pensions Appeal Tribunals relating to claims for pensions in respect of death or disablement by war injuries. Article 4(1) of the Royal Warrant concerning Retired Pay, Pensions, etc dated December 1943 (Cmd 6489) provided that in no case was there to be an onus on any claimant to prove that the disablement or death of a member of the military forces was attributable to or aggravated by war service and that the benefit of any reasonable doubt should be given to the claimant: "In every issue of disputed facts between two parties, the onus of proof must inevitably be either on the one hand or the other, and the result of the provisions I have quoted is that the onus of proof is on the Minister."
1 Citers



 
 Mitchell v North British Rubber Co Ltd; 1945 - 1945 JC 69
 
Devlin's Tustees v Breen [1945] UKHL 1; 1945 SC (HL) 27; 1945 SN 10; 1945 SLT 216
25 Jan 1945
HL

Scotland, Wills and Probate

[ Bailii ]
 
F v F [1945] ScotCS CSIH - 1
23 Feb 1945
SCS

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Owens v HM Advocate [1946] ScotHC HCJAC - 1
22 Mar 1946
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]
 
Ayrshire Employers' Mutual Ins Co v Inland Revenue Commissioners [1946] UKHL 3; (1946) 79 Ll L Rep 307; 27 TC 331; 1946 SLT 235; 1946 SC (HL) 1
29 Mar 1946
HL

Scotland, Income Tax

[ Bailii ]
 
Duthie and Co Ltd v Merson and Gerry [1946] ScotCS CSIH - 3
31 Oct 1946
SCS

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Cochrane's Exr v Cochrane [1946] ScotCS CSIH - 1
6 Dec 1946
SCS

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Drew v Western Smt Co Ltd [1946] ScotCS CSIH - 2
20 Dec 1946
SCS

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Thomson's Trustees v Davidson [1947] ScotCS CSIH - 1
18 Jul 1947
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Mair v Wood [1947] ScotCS CSIH - 2
19 Dec 1947
SCS

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Pender v Reid 1948 SC 381
1948


Landlord and Tenant, Scotland
When a court is asked whether a dwelling-house is let with other land, it must determine whether the land is the adjunct of the dwelling-house, or the dwelling-house the adjunct of the land.

 
J and J v C's Tutor 1948 SC 636
1948


Scotland, Adoption
Adoptive parents tried to reduce an adoption order. They asserted an essential error induced by innocent misrepresentations made by those acting for the natural mother; it was averred by the pursuers that they had been incorrectly assured that a satisfactory medical report existed in relation to the child. The child had suffered brain injury at birth. Secondly, they contended that statutory requiremnts had not been carried out; the adoption petition was presented less than three months from the date when the child was placed in the care of the adoptive parents, contrary to the Act. Held: Adoption involves unpredictable risks as to the development of the child, and that therefore there should be no possibility of going back. Moreover, adoption affects status in a peculiarly fundamental manner; it creates a relationship whose paradigm is the relationship of natural parent and natural child, a relationship which, apart from the statutory possibility of adoption, is obviously wholly irrevocable and unbreakable. The Act "made a serious invasion upon the common law by introducing a novel institution which cannot easily be fitted into its setting". An adoption order is sui generis; consequently the inherent power of the Court of Session to reduce decrees in absence and in foro should not apply. Essential error was not a valid ground for reduction of an adoption order.
Adoption of Children (Scotland) Act 1930
1 Citers


 
Arcari v Dunbartonshire County Council 1948 SC 62
1948

Lord President Cooper
Scotland

1 Cites


 
Bridgeford's Executors v Bridgeford [1948] ScotCS CSIH - 1
18 Mar 1948
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Cullen's Executor v Elphinstone [1948] ScotCS CSOH - 6
4 Jun 1948
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Fox v Paterson [1948] ScotHC HCJAC - 1
4 Jun 1948
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]
 
Scotstown Moor Children's Camp, Petitioners [1948] ScotCS CSIH - 2
16 Jul 1948
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Millar v Mcrobbie [1948] ScotCS CSIH - 3
13 Oct 1948
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
M'Elroy v M'Allister [1948] ScotCS CSIH - 4; 1949 SC 110; 1949 SLT 139
4 Nov 1948
SCS

Scotland, Torts - Other, International
The court rejected the renvoi doctrine in tort. An act done in a foreign country was actionable in Scotland only if it was, if done in Scotland, a tort, and was also actionable according to the law of the place in which it was done.
1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
Munro v Liquidator of Balnagown Estates Co Ltd [1948] ScotCS CSIH - 5
16 Nov 1948
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]

 
 Monarch Steamship Co Ltd v Karlshamns Oljefabriker A/B; HL 1949 - [1949] AC 196; [1948] UKHL 1; 65 TLR 217; 1949 SC (HL) 1; [1949] AC 196; 1949 SLT 51; (1948-49) 82 Ll L Rep 137; [1949] LJR 772; [1949] 1 All ER 1
 
Millar v Galashiels Gas Co Ltd; Galashiels Gas Company Ltd v O'Donnell [1949] AC 275; [1949] SC (HL) 31; [1949] UKHL 2; 47 LGR 213; 1949 SLT 223; 65 TLR 76; [1949] LJR 540; [1949] AC 275; [1949] 1 All ER 319
20 Jan 1949
HL
Lord Morton of Henryton
Health and Safety, Scotland, Personal Injury
A hoist mechanism failed, the employee was injured, and he sought damages from his employer under the Act. Held: The section imposes an absolute obligation to maintain work equipment in an efficient state or in efficient working order. The duty imposed was an absolute and continuing obligation, so that proof of any failure in the mechanism of a hoist or lift established a breach of statutory duty, even though it was impossible to anticipate such failure before the event or to explain it afterwards, and even though all reasonable steps had been taken to provide a suitable hoist or lift and to maintain it properly.
Factories Act 1937 22(1)
1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
Stobo Ltd v Morrisons (Gowns) Ltd [1949] ScotCS CSIH - 1
28 Jan 1949
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Raffaelli v Heatly [1949] ScotHC HCJ - 1
9 Feb 1949
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]

 
 Labacianskas v Labacianskas; SCS 15-Feb-1949 - [1949] ScotCS CSIH - 2
 
Power v Central SMT Co Ltd [1949] ScotCS CSIH - 4
23 Mar 1949
SCS
Lord Keith
Scotland, Damages
Lord Keith said that the words 'if sued' in the subsection assume that the person from whom the contribution was sought had been: "relevantly, competently and timeously sued; in other words, that all the essential preliminaries to a determination of the other party's liability on the merits have been satisfied."
Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1940 3
1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
Angus's Executrix v Batchan's Trs [1949] ScotCS CSIH - 3
25 Mar 1949
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Wilsons and Clyde Coal Co v Scottish Insurance Corporation [1949] UKHL 3; [1949] 1 All ER 1068; 1949 SLT 230; [1949] AC 462; 65 TLR 354; [1949] LJR 1190; 1949 SC (HL) 90
6 May 1949
HL

Scotland, Company

[ Bailii ]
 
Flynn v Scott [1949] ScotCS CSOH - 7
6 May 1949
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Carabine v Carabine [1949] ScotCS CSIH - 5
12 Jul 1949
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Christie v Smith [1949] ScotCS CSIH - 6
14 Jul 1949
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Lawrie v Muir [1949] ScotHC HCJAC - 2; 1950 JC 19; 1950 SLT 37
23 Nov 1949
HCJ
Lord Justice General Cooper
Scotland, Criminal Evidence
The prosecution case was said to have been based on evidence acquired during an unlawful search of the defendant's premises. Held: An irregularity in the method by which evidence has been obtained does not necessarily make that evidence inadmissible in a criminal prosecution.
Lord Justice General Cooper explained the basis for the approach: "From the standpoint of principle it seems to me that the law must strive to reconcile two highly important interests which are liable to come into conflict – (a) the interest of the citizen to be protected from illegal or irregular invasions of his liberties by the authorities, and (b) the interest of the State to secure that evidence bearing upon the commission of crime and necessary to enable justice to be done shall not be withheld from Courts of law on any merely formal or technical ground. Neither of these objects can be insisted upon to the uttermost."
1 Cites

1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
Lennie v Lennie [1949] UKHL 4; 1949 SLT (Notes) 58; 1950 SC (HL) 1; 1950 SLT 22; 65 TLR 763; [1949] WN 480; 1949 SLT (Notes) 43
1 Dec 1949
HL

Scotland, Family

Divorce (Scotland) Act 1938
[ Bailii ]
 
Cox's Trs v Cox [1950] ScotCS CSIH - 1
20 Jan 1950
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Jamieson v Watt's Trustees [1950] ScotCS CSIH - 2
29 Mar 1950
SCS

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Crawford (Arthur) v HM Advocate [1950] ScotHC HCJAC - 1
22 Jun 1950
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]
 
Rodger (Builders) Ltd v Fawdry [1950] ScotCS CSIH - 3
23 Jun 1950
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Hay Memorial Judicial Factor v Hay's Trustees [1950] ScotCS CSIH - 4
23 Jul 1950
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Carse v Coppen 1951 SC 233; [1950] ScotCS CSIH - 5
8 Dec 1950
IHCS
Lord President Cooper
Scotland, Banking
The court considered the inability to create a floating charge over a company's assets in Scots law. It was conceded that a company registered in Scotland could not create a valid and effectual floating charge over its assets in Scotland, but it was contended that it had done so over its assets in England. This argument was rejected. Lord President Cooper said that a floating charge was utterly repugnant to the principles of Scots law, which did not recognise it as creating a security at all. The reforms in the law which had been effected because of the many criticisms that had been directed against the injustices capable of being inflicted on the trade creditors by the use of floating charges had been expressly confined to companies registered in England. It was unthinkable that this could have been done except upon the view that companies registered in Scotland and subject to Scots law could not create floating charges.
1 Citers

[ Bailii ]

 
 British Motor Trade Association v Gray; 1951 - 1951 SLT 247; 1951 SC 586
 
Price v Watson 1951 SC 359
1951

Lord Keith
Scotland, Land
One pro indiviso proprietor of heritable property sought summarily to eject other pro indiviso proprietors from part of the property. Held: Lord Keith doubted the need to sist the action of ejection: "That it can be used against a co-owner who has a right to possess, flowing from his property title, is, in my opinion, a plain impossibility. A co-owner, it is true, has not an exclusive right of possession, unless by agreement with his co-owners, but he may possess in a variety of ways. He may allow a co-owner to have sole natural possession in return for a compensating money payment; . . . Nowhere will a trace be found in textbook or decision that a dispute about possession between co-owners can be solved by an action of ejection, though down the centuries countless such cases must have occurred."
1 Citers



 
 Gallacher v HM Advocate; HCJ 1951 - 1951 JC 38
 
Hay's Trustees v Hay's Trustees [1951] ScotCS CSIH - 1
10 Jan 1951
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Price v Watson [1951] ScotCS CSIH - 2
27 Feb 1951
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
British Motor Trade Association v Gray [1951] ScotCS CSIH - 3
16 Mar 1951
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Duncan v Motherwell Bridge and Engineering Co Ltd [1951] ScotCS CSIH - 7
7 Nov 1951
SCS

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Sinclair v Juner [1951] ScotCS CSIH - 5
23 Nov 1951
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Inland Revenue Commissioners v Glasgow Police Athletic Association [1951] ScotCS CSIH - 4
12 Dec 1951
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Samuel Jones and Co v Irc [1951] ScotCS CSIH - 6
13 Dec 1951
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Nicol v National Coal Board (1952) 102 LJ 357
1952
SCS
Lord Guthrie
Vicarious Liability, Scotland, Personal Injury
The court considered a claim against his employer after the plaintiff suffered injury after a breach of safety regulations by a co-worker. Held: Referring to Harrison v NCB: "It appears to me that that principle disposes of the argument against the relevancy of the pursuer's case on breach of the statutory regulations. Accordingly, I hold that the pursuer relevantly averred that the defenders are vicariously responsible for the fireman's breach of regulations 2(e) and (h) of the Explosives Order."
1 Cites

1 Citers


 
Kilboy v South Eastern Fire Area Joint Committee 1952 SC 280
1952

Lord President (Cooper)
Scotland, Vicarious Liability, Scotland
The court discussed the rule of respondeat superior: "What was once presented as a legal principle has degenerated into a rule of expediency, imperfectly defined, and changing its shape before our eyes under the impact of changing social and political conditions".
1 Citers


 
Kilboy v South Eastern Fire Area Joint Committee 1952 SC 280
1952

Lord President (Cooper)
Scotland, Vicarious Liability, Scotland
The court discussed the rule of respondeat superior: "What was once presented as a legal principle has degenerated into a rule of expediency, imperfectly defined, and changing its shape before our eyes under the impact of changing social and political conditions".
1 Citers


 
Mackay and others v Macleod and others Unreported, 10 January 1952
10 Jan 1952

Lord Guthrie, Lord President Cooper
Scotland, Trusts
The court had to determine the nature and constitution of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland from the provisions of a Deed of Separation, together with certain documents specified in that deed. Held: The court was constrained to that document for its interpretation. "Seceders secede at their peril". Lord President Cooper: "The pleadings and the arguments of counsel in this case have ranged over a very wide and highly contentious field, and it was represented to us, at least from one side of the Bar, that the purpose of this litigation was to secure a decision on a matter of principle of grave concern to the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. In these circumstances, I deem it necessary to re-affirm at the outset the limited jurisdiction which alone a civil court can be required to exercise in a case of this kind. . . . In form and in substance the single controversy which we are invited to resolve relates to a matter of patrimonial right. It arises in a competition between two parties, each claiming to be the beneficiaries entitled to certain trust property. The trust is so expressed as to make the beneficial right dependent upon adherence by the beneficiary to the constitution and whole standards of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland as set forth in specified documents. In such a case it is the duty of the court to take cognisance of relevant matters of belief, doctrine and church government for the purpose, but only for the purpose, of informing themselves as to the essential and distinguishing tenets of the church in question, and of discovering the differences, if any, which can be detected in the principles to which the competing claimants respectively profess adherence. For us all such matters are matters of pure fact, which we investigate with the limited object of enabling us to apply the provisions of the trust; and it is not our province to form, still less to express, any view of our own upon the truth, reasonableness, propriety or relative importance of the various doctrines, standards, or matters of ecclesiastical polity to which our attention may be directed, nor to decide any question of ecclesiastical principle which is not inseparable from the question of patrimonial right. I refer to the series of authoritative decisions beginning with Craigdallie 1 Dow 1 and ending with The Free Church case 7 F. (H.L.) 1, in all of which the courts have stressed their reluctance to embark upon an investigation of this kind except to that limited extent and with that limited purpose ..."
1 Citers


 
Bird v H.M. Advocate [1952] ScotHC HCJ - 1
15 Jan 1952
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]

 
 Mathieson Gee (Ayrshire) Ltd v Quigley; HL 6-Mar-1952 - [1952] UKHL 2; 1952 SLT 239; 1952 SC (HL) 38

 
 Taylor v Glasgow Corporation; SCS 23-Jul-1952 - [1952] ScotCS CSIH - 1; 1952 SLT 399; 1952 SC 440

 
 Matuszczyk v National Coal Board; 1953 - (1953) SC 8

 
 Macnaughton v Macnaughton's Trustees; IHCS 1953 - [1953] SC 387
 
Tucker v Canch's Trustees [1953] ScotCS CSIH - 1
16 Jun 1953
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
MacCormick v Lord Advocate 1953 SC 396; [1953] ScotCS CSIH - 2; 1953 SC 396; 1953 SLT 25
30 Jul 1953
SCS
Lord President Cooper
Scotland, Constitutional
LP Cooper reserved his opinion on the question whether the provisions in article XIX of the Treaty of Union which purport to preserve the Court of Session and the laws relating to private right which are administered in Scotland are fundamental law which Parliament is not free to alter.
Lord President Cooper said: "I cannot see how we could admit the title and interest of the present petitioners to raise the point in issue before the Court of Session without conceding a similar right to almost any opponent of almost any political action to which public opposition has arisen."
Act of Union of 1707
1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
Hma v Doherty [1953] ScotHC HCJ - 1
3 Sep 1953
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]
 
John Haig and Co Ltd v Forth Blending Co Ltd [1953] ScotCS CSOH - 3
1 Oct 1953
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Watt v Jamieson [1953] ScotCS CSOH - 4
31 Oct 1953
SCS

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Prawdziclazarska [1953] ScotCS CSOH - 5
7 Nov 1953
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Mooney v Lanarkshire County Council 1954 SC 245
1954


Scotland

1 Citers


 
Anderson v Lambie [1954] UKHL 3; [1954] 1 WLR 303; [1954] 3 All ER 157 (Note); 1954 SLT (Notes) 22; 1954 SLT 73; 1954 SC (HL) 43
25 Jan 1954
HL
Lord Reid, Lord Keith of Avonholm
Scotland, Land, Litigation Practice, Contract
As the result of a mistake, a disposition of property conveyed the entirety of an estate which consisted mainly of a farm, but also included other property. The preceding missives of sale were capable of more than one meaning as to the extent of the subjects to be conveyed. The evidence established that the missives had themselves been preceded by an oral agreement for the sale of the farm alone. Held: The appeal succeeded and the decision of the First Division reversed. Such problems with this type of mistake in expression could not be resolved by construing the document as it stood, unlike a mistake in expression which was obvious on the face of the document. Neither was this a situation where an agreement was vitiated by error: "in the present case the error only arose after the parties had reached agreement". There must nevertheless be a remedy.
However, it was incompetent under Scots law for a defectively expressed document to be corrected by the court so as to give effect to the true agreement between the parties.
Lord Keith of Avonholm said that reduction was available in the event of a conveyance or contract "being expressed as regards essentials in different terms from what the parties really intended and had agreed between them".
As to the remedy of reduction, Lord Reid said: "But, when it is sought to reduce a deed, it is necessary to go behind the deed and discover the real facts. The fact that the parties agreed to the missives is important evidence but it is not the only competent evidence. The question is not what the missives mean: if that were the question, the ordinary rule would apply that the meaning of a document must be found from its terms. The question is whether the real facts are such that the disposition must be reduced, and the existence of the missives does not alter the nature of the inquiry."
1 Cites

[ Bailii ]
 
Willar v Willar [1954] ScotCS CSIH - 2
29 Jun 1954
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Salvesen's Trustees v Wye [1954] ScotCS CSIH - 4
13 Jul 1954
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Haggarty v Scottish TGWU [1954] ScotCS CSIH - 6
2 Dec 1954
SCS

Scotland, Employment

[ Bailii ]
 
Graham v Robert Younger Ltd [1955] JC 28
1955


Scotland, Contempt of Court
The complainer had given an undertaking in proceedings for his sequestration at the instance of Robert Younger Ltd. The company lodged a minute seeking his apprehension for its breach as a contempt of court. The sheriff ordered the apprehension of the complainer and subsequently held that he was in breach of the undertaking and sentenced him to a period of imprisonment. The complainer challenged his imprisonment in a bill of suspension and liberation, which came before the Justiciary Appeal Court. Held: The Appeal Court remitted the remainder of his sentence, but held that breach of an undertaking would constitute contempt of court.
1 Citers



 
 Hunter v Hanley; 4-Feb-1955 - [1955] SLT 213; [1955] ScotCS CSIH - 2; 1955 SC 200; [1955-95] PNLR 1

 
 Angus v National Coal Board; SCS 9-Feb-1955 - [1955] ScotCS CSIH - 1; 1955 SLT 245
 
Baird's Trs. v Baird [1955] ScotCS CSIH - 3
24 Mar 1955
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Ogilvie-Forbes v Ogilvie-Forbes [1955] ScotCS CSIH - 4
7 Jun 1955
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board v D&R Taylor [1955] ScotCS CSIH - 5
24 Jun 1955
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Pullar v Window Clean [1955] ScotCS CSIH - 6
11 Oct 1955
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Mccallum v Mason [1955] ScotCS CSIH - 8
19 Oct 1955
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]

 
 Glasgow Corporation v Central Land Board; HL 12-Dec-1955 - [1955] UKHL 7; 1956 SLT 41; [1956] JPL 442; 1956 SC (HL) 1
 
Inverurie Town Council v Sorrie [1955] ScotCS CSIH - 7
21 Dec 1955
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Wilkie v Scottish Aviation [1956] ScotCS CSIH - 1
24 Feb 1956
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]

 
 Bonnington Castings Ltd v Wardlaw; HL 1-Mar-1956 - [1956] 1 All ER 615 HL(Sc); [1956] 2 WLR 707; [1956] AC 613; 1956 SC (HL) 26; [1956] UKHL 1
 
Royal Four Towns Fishing Association v Dumfriesshire Assessor (Lands Valuation Appeal Court) [1956] ScotCS 4
2 Mar 1956
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Irving v Snow [1956] ScotCS CSIH - 2
20 Jun 1956
SCS

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Hay v Duthie's Trustees [1956] ScotCS CSIH - 3
13 Jul 1956
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Clark v Syme [1956] ScotHC HCJ - 1
3 Oct 1956
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]

 
 Nicholson v Atlas Steel Foundry and Engineering Co Ltd; HL 1957 - [1957] 1 WLR 613; [1957] 1 All ER 776
 
Marshall v Clark [1957] ScotHC HCJ - 1
11 Jun 1957
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]
 
Boyd's Tr v Shaw [1957] ScotCS CSIH - 1
21 Nov 1957
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
English v Donnelly 1958 SC 494
1958


Scotland, Contract
An agreement to subject to a foreign law a relationship which is in all other respects domestic equates with or is analogous to a contrary agreement.
1 Citers


 
Miller's Trustees v Miller 1958 SC 125
1958

Lord Patrick, Lord Justice-Clerk Thomson
Scotland, Wills and Probate
The issue was whether the rule of conditio si institutus sine liberis decesserit operated and, if so, whether two nephews who predeceased the date of a codicil which the testator made to his trust disposition and settlement were to be regarded as institutes instead of the persons whom he had instituted by his original settlement, in other words whether it is necessary to take into account a codicil which does not alter or affect the relevant provisions in the original trust disposition and settlement. All that the testator did by his codicil was to vary the administrative provisions of the settlement by appointing new trustees and executors, as all but one of the persons named in the settlement had died. The codicil ended with the words "and with these alterations I confirm my said trust disposition and settlement." Held: The answer depended on which date was to be taken as the critical date - the date of the trust disposition and settlement which he executed in 1936, or the date of the codicil which he made in 1946. Rejecting the argument that the effect of the quoted words was that 1946 was the crucial date for the purposes of the conditio. It was a highly technical and unrealistic argument, as the effect of the codicil was that the original beneficial provisions remained intact. It was a question of the intention of the testator. As the testamentary provisions were not innovated upon in any way by the codicil but referred to in it only in order to confirm them, the testator showed no intention of telling his trustees that they were to treat his testamentary provisions as if they were made for the first time in 1946.
1 Citers


 
H M Advocate v Graham 1958 SLT 167
1958

Lord Sorn
Crime, Scotland
The accused was said to have stabbed the deceased while in the act of breaking into a public house with intent to steal from it. There was evidence that he was attempting to break in and steal when the fatal struggle took place. Held: There were two separate offences and a separate criminal purpose to which the killing was ancillary: the housebreaking with intent to steal, and the killing which was said to have been done in the course or furtherance of the stealing.The directions to the jury concentrated on the need for them to be satisfied that the accused was in the course of the theft when he did the killing.
1 Citers


 
Miller v South of Scotland Electricity Board 1958 SC(HL) 20
1958
HL
Lord Keith of Avonholm
Scotland, Health and Safety
An employer should recognise that it is not possible to predict all the ways in which dangers may arise, especially where the risk is created by carelessness. The employer is liable even if he did not foresee the precise accident that happened. In claims of damages for alleged negligence it could only be in rare and exceptional cases that an action could be disposed of on relevancy, because the facets and detail of a case on which an assessment of the law must depend could not be conveyed to the mind by mere averments of the bare bones of the case.
1 Citers


 
Maclennan v Maclennan [1958] ScotCS CSOH - 5
10 Jan 1958
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Clyde C Clyde [1958] ScotCS CSOH - 6
16 Jan 1958
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Manuel v HM Advocate [1958] ScotHC HCJ - 1; 1958 SLT (Notes) 44; 1958 JC 41; 1959 SLT 23
25 Jun 1958
HCJ
Lord Justice General Clyde
Scotland, Criminal Evidence
In order to be found to be voluntarily given, a suspect's statement must have been freely given and not given in response to pressure or inducement and not elicited by questioning other than what is directed simply to elucidating what has been said. The crucial question then is whether this statement freely given? Or was it the result of some kind of pressure or inducement by the police?
1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
English v Donnelly [1958] ScotCS CSIH - 1
23 Jul 1958
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Kirby v National Coal Board [1958] ScotCS CSIH - 2
25 Jul 1958
SCS

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Exchange Telegraph v Giulanotti [1958] ScotCS CSOH - 7
19 Nov 1958
SCS

Scotland, Contract
The company supplied racing information to bookmakers by private telephone lines. They asserted that the defender had breached its contract by relaying the information to its branch offices without the payment of the agreed additional licence fees, and terminated the contract
[ Bailii ]
 
Bliersbach v Macewen [1958] ScotCS CSIH - 3
27 Nov 1958
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Ferguson, Petitioner [1958] ScotCS CSIH - 4
2 Dec 1958
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Di Rollo v Di Rollo [1958] ScotCS CSOH - 8
12 Dec 1958
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Islip Pedigree Breeding Centre and Others v Abercromby 1959 SLT 161
1959
HL
Lord Reid
Scotland, Litigation Practice
The House of Lords should only review concurrent findings of fact in both Outer and Inner House of the Court of Session which depended upon an assessment of credibility by the trial judge if it can be clearly demonstrated that his findings were erroneous.
1 Citers


 
Balfour v Archibald Baird and Sons Ltd 1959 SC 64
1959
SCS
Lord Justice-Clerk Thomson
Scotland
Lord Justice-Clerk Thomson said that if the pursuer "has invited a competent court to give him full satisfaction for the loss sustained by him and if he is awarded damages on that footing that is an end of it. He has got all he is entitled to."
1 Citers


 
Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd v Meyer [1958] 3 All ER 66; [1959] 3 WLR 404; [1959] AC 324
1959
HL
Viscount Simonds, Lord Keith and Lord Denning
Scotland, Company
The Co-operative Society had formed a 51 per cent-owned subsidiary to manufacture rayon at a time of strict post-war controls. The other shares were owned by two outside directors with skill and experience in the trade. When these directors declined to sell their shares to the society it began switching its business to a new department within its own organisation. The subsidiary's business declined and its shares fell heavily in value. On the directors' petition the Court of Session had ordered the society to buy the directors' shares at "what would have been the value of the shares at the commencement of the proceedings had it not been for the oppressive conduct of which complaint was made". Held: The House dismissed the Society's appeal. The grant of relief was in the judge's discretion. Viscount Simonds, Lord Keith and Lord Denning all specifically approved a valuation which was both back-dated to the presentation of the petition and adjusted to compensate for the past oppression.
An oppressing shareholder was directed to purchase the shares of the oppressed shareholder: (Lord Denning) "One of the most useful orders mentioned in the section -- which will enable the Court to do justice to the injured shareholders -- is to order the oppressor to buy their shares at a fair price: and a fair price would be, I think, the value which the shares would have had at the date of the petition, if there had been no oppression. Once the oppressor has bought the shares, the company can survive. It can continue to operate. That is a matter for him. It is, no doubt, true that an order of this kind gives to the oppressed shareholders what is in effect money compensation for the injury done to them: but I see no objection to this. The section gives a large discretion to the Court and it is well exercised in making the oppressor make compensation to those who have suffered at his hands."
Companies Act 1948 210
1 Citers


 
Sullivan v Gallagher and Craig (No 2) 1959 SC 243; [1960] SLT 70
1959
SCS

Scotland, Evidence, Negligence
The pursuer was injured at work. As a dock worker he was asked to operate a rented truck. The court was asked whether the employer was under a duty to inspect.

 
Wallace v H M Advocate 1959 JC 71
1959


Scotland, Criminal Practice
The running of the 110 day maximum period for detention after which a trial must have begun, was interrupted when the accused began to serve a sentence of imprisonment on another matter. He was no longer being detained because of the committal warrant.
1 Citers


 
Mccluskey v Her Majesty's Advocate [1959] ScotHC HCJ - 1
24 Feb 1959
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]
 
Bell v Blackwood Morton and Sons Ltd [1959] ScotCS CSIH - 1
22 Oct 1959
scs

Scotland

[ Bailii ]
 
Hma v Kidd [1959] ScotHC HCJ - 2
23 Oct 1959
HCJ

Scotland, Crime

[ Bailii ]
 
Harvey v Singer Manufacturing Co [1959] ScotCS CSIH - 2
18 Dec 1959
SCS

Scotland
The pursuer claimed reparation from the Singer Manufacturing Company, Limited, for personal injuries which he sustained in their employment
1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
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