Letter: Legal negligence

Bill Jamieson avers (28 October) that the "devolution settlement effectively made independent and time-tested Scots law, with a proud set of practices and institutions pre-dating the 1707 Act of Union, subservient to the Supreme Court".

Implicit in that statement is the view that the "proud set of practices" reflected a legal system that always served the interests of justice. In fact, one of the "proud set of practices" was utilised in Batchelor v Pattison, 1876, to give immunity to lawyers regarding how they conducted a case in court and how they prepared for that task.

Armed with that minor advantage (compared with other professions) lawyers could confidently and pompously deploy the art of negligence (masquerading as effective representation) on behalf of their clients with impunity, thanks to the "proud set of practices" that so impressed Mr Jamieson.

And they can still do so - thanks to the wisdom of the Scottish legal establishment which simply ignored a groundbreaking House of Lords decision that abolished immunity in England.

Thomas Crooks

Dundas Street

Edinburgh

On the advice of my lawyer this letter has no content.

Andrew Haughney

Lady Road

Edinburgh