Scott Blair
Year of Call: 2000
Devil Masters: Norman Ritchie QC, JMW Thomson QC, Robert G Skinner
Qualifications: LL. B (Hons), University of Glasgow (First Class Honours), 1991
Biography:
Worked as a solicitor in private practice before calling in 2000. He specialises in a wide range of public law issues. He has been instructed in cases in the European Court of Human Rights, House of Lords, Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, both the Inner and Outer House of the Court of Session, the High Court of Justiciary at first instance and on appeal, the Sheriff Court and before various tribunals, licensing boards and local authority regulatory committees.
News:
In his licensing practice Scott acted for the successful appellant in Shafiq v North Lanarkshire Licensing Board. The case was decided by Sheriff Powrie at Hamilton Sheriff Court on 23 January 2009. This is one of the very first appeals to be decided under the new Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005. The appellant had applied for a premises licence under the new Act but this was refused by the Board on the basis of the crime prevention objective. In deciding the appeal the Sheriff reversed that decision and ordered the Board to grant the licence. The case arose from a police test purchase operation leading to the conviction of the appellant for the sale of alcohol by an assistant to an under age person. The decision contains detailed consideration of the correct test to be applied when considering the crime prevention objective in section 4 of the Act, the weight to be given to the decision of the police not to object to the application and the issue of whether a test purchase failure has any greater significance than any other type of under age sale. The full judgement can be found at the Scot Courts website at http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/B1205_08.html
He was recently appointed as a part time Immigration Judge of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal. He will sit throughout the United Kingdom.
In his licensing practice, he acted for the Scottish Beer and Pub Association in their recent successful challenge to the policy of the City of Glasgow Licensing Board to seriously restrict the use of traditional glassware in licensed premises. He has also been heavily involved in advising a number of clients on the implications of the smoking ban in licensed premises.
In his local government practice, he has recently been instructed in advising a number of local authorities in relation to both Best Value Audits by Audit Scotland and Inspection Reports by Communities Scotland. He has also been involved in advising on the implications of the free personal care policy of the Scottish Executive as it affects social work authorities.
Cases:
Licensing Boards and Local Authority Committees: Mr Blair appears on a regular basis for both applicants and objectors before Licensing Boards and local authority committees in a range of areas including liquor licensing, betting and gaming and cases under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982. He has specific experience of hearings involving the suspension of liquor licences. His experience extends to appeal and judicial review work arising from the decisions of these bodies.
European Court of Human Rights: E and others v. United Kingdom (2003) 36 EHRR 31 (human rights-established breaches of Articles 3 and 13 arising from negligent failure of social workers to protect children from sexual abuse)
House of Lords: Helow v Advocate General for Scotland and Lord Advocate [2008] UKHL 62 (asylum appeal and whether decision of judge in refusing petition for statutory review of refusal of that appeal flawed for alleged bias arising from membership of association objectionable to the appellant)
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council: R v. HM Advocate and Advocate General for Scotland, 2003 SC (PC) 21 (constitutional law and human rights-breach of reasonable time requirement under Article 6 ECHR led to dismissal of prosecution due to Scotland Act 1998 and also defined scope of many key provisions of that Act); Flynn and others v. HM Advocate, 2004 SC (PC) 1 (human rights and sentencing-established that existing life prisoners should not be prejudiced by the imposition of mandatory punishment parts)
Inner House: Smith v. North Lanarkshire Licensing Board, 2005 SLT 544 (liquor licensing- successful appeal against suspension of licence); Cannell v. Scottish Ministers, 2003 SLT (planning and human rights); Koca v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, 2005 SLT 838 (asylum-immigration appeal hearing held to be unfair); Wright v. Scottish Ministers, 2005 SLT 613 (extradition and human rights); Torabi v. Home Secretary, 5 May 2006 (decision to return woman to Iran to face prosecution and possible execution by stoning for alleged adultery legally flawed).
Outer House: Catscratch Ltd (No2) v. City of Glasgow Licensing Board, 2002 SLT 503 (liquor licensing and human rights-fair hearing and peaceful possession rights under ECHR applied to licensing boards); Spirit Group plc and Mitchells and Butlers Limited v. City of Aberdeen Licensing Board, 2005 SLT 13 (liquor licensing-attempt to impose minimum pricing on sale of alcohol unlawful); London and Edinburgh Inns Ltd v. North Ayrshire Licensing Board, 2004 SLT 848 (liquor licensing-consideration of effect of transfer of licence); Phipps v. Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, 2005 CSOH 78 (professional regulation and administrative law-decision to remove professional accreditation of surgeon unreasonable); Beggs v. Scottish Ministers, 2004 SLT 755 (Crown proceedings-prison transfer- interim declarator against the Crown competent notwithstanding Crown Proceedings Act 1947); Khairandish v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, 2003 SLT 1358 (asylum-international treaties and legitimate expectation).
High Court of Justiciary: McDonald v. Dickson, 2003 SLT 467 (human rights-whether bail conditions violated ECHR).
Also Appeal Court stages of R v. HMA and Advocate General for Scotland and Flynn and others v. HM Advocate.
Sheriff Court: Shafiq v North Lanarkshire Licensing Board, 23 January 2009, Hamilton Sheriff Court (Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 - failure of police test purchase - refusal of premises licence application on crime prevention grounds - decision of Board reversed on appeal); O'Rea v. Hagan, 2001 SLT (Sh Ct) 30 (education and human rights-prosecution of parent of alleged truant did not breach ECHR); BP Express Shopping Ltd v. West Fife Divisional Licensing Board [2007] 37 SLLP 29 (test purchasing under Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005); Alldays Stores Ltd v. Central Fife Licensing Board [2007] 37 SLLP 34.
Publications:
Scots Administrative Law: Cases and Materials (W Green/ Sweet & Maxwell, 1999)
A Practical Guide to Human Rights in Scotland, The Hon. Lord Reed (ed) (W Green/ Sweet and Maxwell, 2001), (chapter on public law and human rights)
Scottish Human Rights Service, The Hon. Lord Reed and Prof. A Miller (eds), (looseleaf, W Green/ Sweet and Maxwell), (chapter on constitutional and administrative law)
Scottish Licensing Law (forthcoming)
Numerous articles in Scots Law Times, Scottish Licensing Law & Practice, Civil Practice Bulletin, Scottish Human Rights Journal, Scottish Constitutional and Administrative Law & Practice, Scottish Parliament Law Review.
Appointments:
Member Licensing Law Sub Committee of the Law Society of Scotland, 2007 -
Legal Member of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland 2007-
Immigration Judge of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal
Tutor and some time Lecturer in administrative law, University of Glasgow, 1991 to 2005
Member Faculty of Advocates Human Rights Committee
Further Information:
Secretary of the Bar Human Rights Group
Member of the Bar Planning, Local Government and Environmental Law Group
Member of the Crofting Law Group
Member of Trustbar