Esheria Scotland Case Law
Sign in
Scotland Source-linked decisions Coverage checked

Scotland Case Law

Search judgments by proposition, citation, court, judge or legal topic, then move directly into the source-grounded case analysis.

Courts on this page
0 court collections
Last checked

Search and filter Scotland case law

Results update automatically as you type.

Scotland decisions

Decisions matching the current search

Clear filters
Criminal law [2024] HCJ 4

Examination of the Facts in HMA against Michael Porchetta (High Court of Justiciary)

Examination of the Facts in HMA against Michael Porchetta (High Court of Justiciary) [2024] HCJ 4 (29 November 2024)

The High Court of Justiciary held that Michael Porchetta was unfit to plead but, at an examination of facts, found beyond reasonable doubt that he committed murder, theft, and an attempt to defeat justice.

  • Unfitness to plead
  • Murder
  • Theft
  • Attempt to defeat justice
  • Forensic dna evidence
  • Blood pattern analysis
Read case analysis
Criminal law [2020] ScotHC HCJAC_7

RITCHIE AGAINST HER MAJESTY'S ADVOCATE

RITCHIE AGAINST HER MAJESTY'S ADVOCATE [2020] ScotHC HCJAC_7 (30 January 2020)

Criminal appeal against conviction for housebreaking and theft refused. The court held the sheriff’s jury directions, read as a whole, did not shift the burden of proof.

  • Burglary
  • Dna evidence
  • Jury directions
  • Burden of proof
  • Misdirection
  • Criminal-law
Read case analysis
Criminal law [2016] ScotHC HCJAC_105

McDowall & Ors v HM Advocate

McDowall & Ors v HM Advocate [2016] ScotHC HCJAC_105 (22 November 2016)

The appeal court held there was sufficient evidence of recent possession, supported by DNA and the circumstances of discovery, and refused all three conviction appeals.

  • Sufficiency of evidence
  • Recent possession
  • Dna evidence
  • Reset
  • Theft
  • Criminal-law
Read case analysis
Criminal law [2016] ScotHC HCJAC_54

Ross v HM Advocate

Ross v HM Advocate [2016] ScotHC HCJAC_54 (24 June 2016)

The court upheld fingerprint-based identification and conviction on the theft charge, but reduced sentence after allowing the appeal in part on sentencing for a young offender.

  • Fingerprint evidence
  • Theft
  • Housebreaking
  • Sentencing of young offenders
  • Misdirection
  • Appeal procedure
Read case analysis
Criminal law [2016] ScotHC HCJAC_42

Martin v HM Advocate

Martin v HM Advocate [2016] ScotHC HCJAC_42 (29 April 2016)

The appeal court held there was sufficient circumstantial evidence to identify the appellant in a series of fire-raising and theft charges, and refused the appeal.

  • Fire-raising
  • Theft
  • Breach of the peace
  • Evidence
  • Corroboration
  • Sentencing
Read case analysis
Criminal law [2016] ScotHC HCJAC_41

Reid v HM Advocate

Reid v HM Advocate [2016] ScotHC HCJAC_41 (28 April 2016)

Appeal against conviction in a housebreaking case was refused. The court held that DNA on a cigarette butt found inside the house near entry was sufficient evidence.

  • Sufficiency of evidence
  • Dna evidence
  • Corroboration
  • Housebreaking
  • Theft
  • Sufficiency-of-evidence
Read case analysis
Criminal law [2016] ScotHC HCJAC_30

Lauder v HM Advocate

Lauder v HM Advocate [2016] ScotHC HCJAC_30 (08 April 2016)

The court refused an appeal against conviction for theft, holding the sheriff’s directions on mens rea were sufficient on the facts and no further warning against speculation was needed.

  • Theft
  • Mens rea
  • Jury directions
  • Appeal procedure
  • Mens-rea
  • Jury-directions
Read case analysis
Criminal law [2016] ScotHC HCJAC_23

Blackwood v HM Advocate

Blackwood v HM Advocate [2016] ScotHC HCJAC_23 (22 March 2016)

The Appeal Court upheld David Blackwood’s robbery conviction, holding the CCTV evidence supported concerted action and that the sheriff’s jury directions were correct.

  • Robbery
  • Assault
  • Theft
  • Concert (joint criminal purpose)
  • Jury directions
  • Concert-joint-criminal-purpose
Read case analysis
Criminal law [2016] ScotHC HCJAC_14

HM Advocate v Graydon

HM Advocate v Graydon [2016] ScotHC HCJAC_14 (15 February 2016)

The High Court of Justiciary refused the Crown’s appeal against a community payback order, holding that the sentence was not unduly lenient in light of mental health evidence.

  • Sentencing
  • Appeal against sentence
  • Mental health in sentencing
  • Community payback order
  • Assault with weapon
  • Theft
Read case analysis

About this LexChat collection

Scotland decisions are organised by court, judge, legal area and indexed issue so a practitioner can move from a proposition to a citable authority with the surrounding context intact.

Source links and collection timestamps are retained alongside the indexed records.