ONE of Britain's most senior judges has warned of a "corrosive anti-English sentiment" in Scotland's courts, describing it as an obstacle to legal progress.
Many will see the comments by Lord Hope, a Scottish judge and deputy president of the UK Supreme Court, as an unprecedented counter-attack on the Scottish Government for its assault on the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court earlier this year.
Lord Hope warned against moves to limit the court’s ability to hear appeals against Scottish convictions.
Moves to make such appeals possible only if cases are sent to the Supreme Court by Scottish judges through a process known as certification have been backed by the Scottish Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill.
Certification is used by courts in England and Wales, but Lord Hope said: “Much has been made of the unfairness of the lack of certification in Scotland when such a system is in place in the other two jurisdictions [England and Wales, and Northern Ireland] but the comparison is not as sound as has been suggested.
“There is [in England and Wales] none of the feeling of antipathy towards cases being sent to London that lies just below the surface here in Scotland.”
Speaking at the annual conference of the Scottish Association for the Study of Offending in Dunblane, Lord Hope quoted remarks made to him by the late Lord Rodger about “a corrosive anti-English sentiment” in the Scottish system, adding that this “sentiment can be a real obstacle to progress”.
It is the first time Lord Hope has spoken publicly since the row earlier this year when Scottish ministers accused the London court and its judges of eroding Scots law and threatened to withdraw funding.
Retired high court judge Lord McCluskey also criticised the Supreme Court and was asked to carry out a review by Mr MacAskill.
The review followed the Cadder decision – which said the legal process in Scotland would have to be changed to comply with European Human Rights legislation which would allow suspects access to a lawyer when being questioned by the police
Lord Hope said the Cadder case had been a “catalyst” for change but said Lord McCluskey’s approach had not been “tactful”.
He strongly disagreed with suggestions made by Scottish ministers that the Supreme Court was “routinely interfering in the Scottish system”. Lord Hope said that it was never and is still not the intention of the court to be a “court of last resort in matters of Scots criminal law”.
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