(547) ROBBIE THE PICT, THE SPEC AND THE SKYE BRIDGE
Scots Law News correspondent Ross Anderson has drawn our belated attention to yet another attempt by the indefatigable Robbie the Pict to argue judicial bias arising from membership of the Speculative Society in cases about unpaid Skye Bridge tolls (see previously Nos 209, 212). And, once again, he has lost his argument but impressed the judge. In Robbie the Pict v Miller Buidheann Ltd, 9th November 2005, Portree Sheriff Court, Sheriff Principal Edward F Bowen QC concluded his opinion with the remark thatI should only add that I appreciate the courteous and good humoured manner in which the pursuer presented his submissions. Although I know little about the Speculative Society it did occur to me that with his capacity for congenial debate the pursuer might, in other circumstances, have been a useful member of it.
For the full opinion see http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/a93_04_.html. For an earlier decision of Sheriff Principal Sir Stephen Young QC also at Portree, to which Sheriff Principal Bowen’s judgement relates, see http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/a93_04.html.