Why did Enlightenment happen in Edinburgh?

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This collection of essays honours the work of Sir Gerald Gordon CBE QC LLD (1929-). In modern times few, if any, individuals can have been as important to a single country's criminal law as Sir Gerald has been to the criminal law of Scotland. His monumental work The Criminal Law of Scotland (1967) is the foundation of modern Scottish criminal law and is recognised internationally as a major contribution to academic work on the subject. Elsewhere, he has made significant contributions as an academic, judge and as a member of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. Reflecting the academic rigour and practical application of Sir Gerald's work, this volume includes essays on criminal law theory, substantive law and evidence and procedure by practitioners and academics within and outside of Scotland, including contributions from England, Ireland and the USA.

Criminal procedure in the common law world is being recast in the image of human rights. The cumulative impact of human rights laws, both international and domestic, presages a revolution in common law procedural traditions. Comprising 16 essays plus the editors' thematic introduction, this volume explores various aspects of the 'human rights revolution' in criminal evidence and procedure in Australia, Canada, England and Wales, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Singapore, Scotland, South Africa and the USA. The contributors provide expert evaluations of their own domestic law and practice with frequent reference to comparative experiences in other jurisdictions. Some essays focus on specific topics, such as evidence obtained by torture, the presumption of innocence, hearsay, the privilege against self-incrimination, and 'rape shield' laws. Others seek to draw more general lessons about the context of law reform, the epistemic demands of the right to a fair trial, the domestic impact of supra-national legal standards (especially the ECHR), and the scope for reimagining common law procedures through the medium of human rights. This edited collection showcases the latest theoretically informed, methodologically astute and doctrinally rigorous scholarship in criminal procedure and evidence, human rights and comparative law, and will be a major addition to the literature in all of these fields.

Scots Criminal Law "e; A Critical Analysis provides a clear statement of the current law for students and practitioners, with a theoretical and critical focus. This new edition has been updated to reflect changes in the law since the first edition publishe

As the law stands, the prosecution in Scotland cannot rely upon previous convictions to help prove their case against an accused person. If an accused, charged with murder, has been convicted of a number of other murders, the jury will not know this when considering their verdict. Other jurisdictions - most notably England and Wales - have rules which allow such evidence. Should Scots law be changed? In this report the Scottish Law Commission conclude that the present rules restricting the use of evidence that the accused has acted in a similar way on other occasions - including evidence that he or she has committed similar crimes - lack both logic and coherence. It recommends that the law recognise that such evidence can be highly relevant to the question of guilt or innocence. The report argues that all relevant evidence - including evidence of similar previous convictions - should, in principle, be admissible. Included with the report is a draft Bill which would give effect to the recommendations by replacing the present law with a clear and coherent statutory framework for the admission of all relevant evidence in criminal proceedings.