(724) SCOTS LAW NEWS YEAR QUIZ OF THE YEAR
This multiple-choice quiz about Scots law news stories in 2007 could be answered from a reading of the 100 or so items reported on this site during that year. You were to give yourself 4 points for a right answer, -1 for no answer and -4 for a wrong answer. If you got 70+, excellent; but you are probably spending too much time reading, or perhaps even making or writing, Scots law news; 50-69, good to very good and you probably have the work-life balance just about right; 40-49, bare pass, there may be concentration issues; <40, oh dear, too much water of life while completing your answers.
1. Which party litigant charmed and beguiled, but failed to persuade, the House of Lords of his human rights?
(a) The Naked Rambler
(b) Tommy Sheridan
(c) Brian Leonard Friend * (No 711)
(d) Robbie The Pict
2. What is the title song of Tommy Sheridan’s radio show on Talk 107?
(a) King of the Swingers * (No 716)
(b) It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)
(c) Sultans of Swing
(d) Swing Low Sweet Chariot
3. In which Borders town are men men and the pavements frightened?
(a) Jedburgh
(b) Langholm
(c) Galashiels * (No 701)
(d) Hawick
4. What brought peace and quiet to the streets of Selkirk?
(a) Sheriff Kevin Drummond
(b) Night-time curfew for Charlie * (No 704)
(c) The fox-hunting ban
(d) Local council ban on male visitors from Jedburgh, Langholm, Galashiels and Hawick
5. What register was the subject of a private member’s bill in the Scottish Parliament, supported (ultimately) by the Scottish Government?
(a) Sex Offenders’ Register
(b) Register of Inhibitions
(c) Electoral Register
(d) Register of Tartans * (No 676)
6. Which one of the following was listed by The Firm magazine as among the 100 most powerful and influential persons in the Scottish justice system and legal profession?
(a) Des Browne (advocate), Secretary of State for Scotland
(b) Baron Davidson of Glen Clova QC, Advocate General for Scotland
(c) Director of Corporate Communications, Law Society of Scotland * (No 714)
(d) Frank Maguire, solicitor
7. Which one of the following Edinburgh law professors ranked lowest in The Firm list?
(a) Professor Robert Black QC
(b) Professor George Gretton
(c) Professor Sir Neil MacCormick QC
(d) Professor Gerry Maher QC * (No 714)
8. Of which of the following offences has the Naked Rambler NOT been convicted?
(a) Contempt of court
(b) Breach of bail conditions
(c) Shameless indecency * (No 722)
(d) Breach of the peace
9. Who said that control of Scottish elections should pass from Westminster to Holyrood?
(a) Ron Gould * (No 692)
(b) Jack McConnell
(c) Tommy Sheridan
(d) The Electoral Commission
10. How many convictions have there been under the Smoking Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005?
(a) three
(b) two
(c) one
(d) none * (No 695)
11. Which is the odd one out?
(a) John Dalrymple first earl of Stair *
(b) the British Crown
(c) the Chair of Public Law and the Law of Nature and Nations in Edinburgh University
(d) the Treaty of Union
* The only one that died in 1707, all the others being created or made that year (see No 621).
12. In which pub on or not far from Edinburgh’s High Street is it LEAST likely that the Lord Justice General and the Lord Advocate met to resolve their differences about what the latter could say about judges’ decisions in public?
(a) Halfway House
(b) Deacon Brodie’s
(c) Last Drop Tavern
(d) World’s End * (Nos 681, 684, 685)
13. Which High Court trial judge consulted two colleagues before withdrawing a charge of murder from the jury?
(a) Lord Clarke
(b) Lord Uist * (No 687)
(c) Lord Coulsfield
(d) Lord Bracadale
14. Which modern descendant of the Scottish play peerage was found to have made no promises?
(a) Glamis
(b) Fife
(c) Cawdor * (No 622)
(d) Ross
15. Which old rocker gave evidence in Glasgow Sheriff Court?
(a) Rod Stewart
(b) Jimmy Page * (No 659)
(c) Alex Harvey
(d) Les McKeown
16. Which old French jurist was cited arguendo and by the judge in another case in Glasgow Sheriff Court?
(a) Pothier * (No 656)
(b) Domat
(c) Cujas
(d) Hotman
17. Which of the following hotels did Environment Minister Mike Russell MSP NOT recommend in his blog?
(a) Castlebay Hotel, Barra
(b) Taigh Dearg, Lochmaddy
(c) An Lochan, Tighnabruaich * (No 669)
(d) Caberfeidh, Stornoway
18. Who does the Scottish Law Commission think the policy of the law should favour in deciding who gets what from intestate estates?
(a) Children of the deceased
(b) Surviving spouse or civil partner of the deceased * (No 668)
(c) Cohabitant of the deceased
(d) Dependants of the deceased
19. The 4-year-old son of which Edinburgh-based author failed in an action to stop his picture being taken covertly by photographers in a Morningside street –
(a) Alexander McCall Smith
(b) Mrs Neil Murray * (No 667)
(c) Ian Rankin
(d) Irvine Welsh
20. Who said: You’re no hitting the polis, mate, there’s nae chance?
(a) John Smeaton * (No 663)
(b) The Lord Advocate
(c) Sheriff Robert McCreadie QC
(d) Donald Findlay QC
21. From 14 January 2008 the sheriff court small claims limit will be –
(a) £750
(b) £1,500
(c) £3,000 * (No 700)
(d) £7,500
22. Which legal doctrine was abolished with effect from 1 September 2007?
(a) conditio si institutus sine liberis decesserit
(b) damnum injuria datum
(c) sponsiones ludicrae * (No 689)
(d) praepositura negotiis domesticis
23. Which form of sexual activity was new to Sheriff Colin Miller despite nearly four decades in the law?
(a) sado-masochism
(b) swinging
(c) attempted intercourse with a pavement
(d) cycle-sexualism * (No 701)
24. Mr Hamish Howitt’s Blackpool bar is named –
(a) The Butt Inn
(b) Stubbs
(c) The Happy Scots * (No 695)
(d) The Whinging Jocks
25. Lord McCluskey will inquire into donations to the Labour Party along with –
(a) The Reverend Douglas Alexander
(b) Lord Harries, former Bishop of Oxford * (No 707)
(c) Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh
(d) The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland