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Scottish Office

Answer

Ms Roseanna Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will estimate the number of cases affected by the decision in Mackay v. PF (Linlithgow) which have already been determined. [37235] Mr. McLeish: [holding answer 1 April 1998]: On 19 November 1997, in the case of Mackay v. PF (Linlithgow) 1998 JC 51, the High Court of Justiciary held that in Scotland, the fixing of an intermediate diet when a summary trial was adjourned was not what Parliament intended. In the case of PF (Glasgow) v. Milligan, decided on 12 March 1998, the court held that a Sheriff had no power, at an "unintended" intermediate diet, to adjourn the trial diet and by implication discharge a trial diet already fixed, and that the instance fell if the case was not called on the date originally fixed. No cases are directly affected by the decision in Mackay v. PF (Linlithgow) but the Crown Office estimate that around 1,000 current cases are likely to be affected by the subsequent decision of the court in PF (Glasgow) v. Milligan, decided on 12 March 1998. Several thousand concluded cases may be involved as well. However, the precise number of cases which may be affected by the decision in PF (Glasgow) v. Milligan cannot be established without disproportionate costs.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

309 c612-3W; 37235

Session

1997-98

Subjects

Criminal proceedings Judgements Scotland Trials Summary trial Linlithgow Intermediate diets

Contains statistics

Yes