From the archives: Challenge to lawyers; 23 October 1950
REFERENCE to the “increasing influx” of new legislation and regulations, and the challenge which it presents to the legal profession, was made in Edinburgh on Saturday by the Lord Advocate Mr. John Wheatley, KG, MP.
Speaking at the annual dinner of the Society of Solicitors in the Supreme Courts of Scotland, Mr Wheatley said from time to time it was remarked that not only the Bench but the profession as a whole was being inflicted with a multitude of laws and regulations (A voice - “Hear, hear”). “This is perfectly true”, he continued, “but there is nothing new about it. This has been of growing momentum in the lifetime of most of us, and the simple explanation is that, in the development of a complex society such as ours has become, we find that the old Common Law is not sufficient to meet the new developments, and so it has to be superseded by legislation and I know to many of you regretfully - by regulations.”