Kapil Summan

Jan 22, 2025 | scottishlegal.com | Kapil Summan

Jennifer Findlay, head of library and archive services at SCTS, wowed LinkedIn with the bears, whose robes have been made with meticulous attention to detail. They even bear, no pun intended, an uncanny resemblance to their human counterparts. Judicial robes first took form in Scotland during the reign of James VI.

Jan 17, 2025 | scottishlegal.com | Kapil Summan

On 1 September 1783, the 24-gun man o’ war HMS Crocodile arrived in Madras. A Porcupine-class warship late of the British defeat in America, its most precious asset was the appropriately prickly Sir William Jones. Averse to fools and sullen in company, the Welshman had gone to India to take up a judgeship, make his fortune and bring his prodigious learning to weigh on the mysteries of the East.

Nov 15, 2024 | scottishlegal.com | Kapil Summan

In an article on long punishment parts in the Scots Law Times, Dr Graeme Brown, senior lecturer in law at Aberdeen University, wrote that Lady Dorrian’s opinion in Packer (Iain) v HMA was “poorly written” and felt “rushed”. Some paragraphs, wrote Dr Brown, “feature certain infelicities of expression and a number of colloquialisms are used, some of which comprise language inappropriate for inclusion in an opinion of the appeal court”.

Oct 31, 2024 | scottishlegal.com | Kapil Summan

The court’s opinion in HMA v PG and JM clarifies the evidential regime on distress and corroboration, following Lord Advocate’s Reference No 1 of 2023, which overruled Smith v Lees in determining that de recenti distress spoken to by a third party could corroborate a complainer’s account that she was raped. It also made clear that a de recenti statement – coupled with distress – was also corroborative of the complainer’s testimony if spoken to by a third party.

Sep 17, 2024 | scottishlegal.com | Kapil Summan

The commercial law professor at Abertay University, sorry Aber-slay, formerly of Edinburgh Napier, said “I have very little idea what I am saying” in what is both his TikTok debut and swansong.