A LEADING human rights lawyer has accused Scottish judges of "immaturity" in their approach to the UK Supreme Court, and said Westminster's Advocate General, Lord Wallace, was right to reject their plea for a change in the rules.
Scotland's most senior judge, Lord Hamilton, the Lord President, has asked for the same process of "certification" of cases before they go to the Supreme Court as that which applies to English and Northern Irish cases.
But solicitor-advocate John Scott, of Justice Scotland, has backed Lord Wallace, saying English judges appeared to have "greater maturity" when it came to human rights cases.
Asked whether he was accusing senior Scottish judges of "immaturity," he replied: "Yes. Part of the problem has been a degree of immaturity in the relationship between the High Court and the Supreme Court, at times behaving badly towards each other. Senior judges here have disparaged devolution minutes taken to the Supreme Court as 'passports to London' and they have made clear they don't like someone else looking over their shoulder.
"Our High Court has been over-technical in cases, taking a box-ticking approach to referral, whereas the Supreme Court judges are interested in the actual issues involved. Maybe in a couple of years our judges will become less technical and grudging in their approach, but for now, we should leave it without certification."
Alex Salmond criticised the letter from Lord Wallace in which he said he "remained to be persuaded" about Lord Hamilton's plea for certification, calling it an attack on the Scottish Judiciary and the Scottish Parliament.
At First Minister's Questions, he made a stinging attack on the Advocate General for deciding he knew better than Scotland's most senior judge, Ministers and MSPs. "I regard it as a very serious constitutional position indeed," he said.
Lewis Macdonald, Scottish Labour justice spokesman, said: "While I have great respect for Lord Hamilton and recognise the point he makes, when considering the Scotland Bill we took a wider view that it is still appropriate for the Supreme Court to have a role in upholding the convention on human rights."
For the LibDems, Alison McInnes said Lord Wallace's stance on certification was "absolutely right", a view shared by David McLetchie for the Tories.
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