(72)  Abolition of poindings and warrant sales?

On 24 September 1999 the Abolition of Poindings and Warrant Sales Bill was introduced in the Scottish Parliament by Mr Tommy Sheridan, a back bench MSP. The text presently under consideration can be viewed on the Internet at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parl_bus/legis.html.  Meanwhile in September the Scottish Law Commission was requested by the Minister of Justice to consider alternative measures for the recovery of debt. It responded in November with its Discussion Paper on Poinding and Sale: Effective Enforcement and Debtor Protection (Scot Law Com Disc Paper No 110, 1999).  The Discussion Paper suggests that finding a more socially acceptable and no less effective alternative method of debt enforcement presents “intractable problems” (para 11), and it details analogous methods of enforcement against moveables in forty-two legal systems outside Scotland. However, the Bill is thought to command considerable parliamentary support.