AN ALL-FEMALE DIVISION IN PARLIAMENT HOUSE

Ladies Smith, Dorrian and Paton formed the first all-female Division of the Inner House of the Court of Session on 29 May 2008, in the trade mark/passing off case of Wise Property Care Ltd (t/a White Preservation) v White Thomson Preservation

The opinion of their Ladyships is awaited with interest.  In the meantime, James Chalmers provides us with material for reflection in this historical footnote:

“I have a photocopy from a journal called “Women in Council” in 1968 reprinting an Edinburgh Evening News account of the first ever "all-female" court in Scotland, in the sense of a sheriff court sitting where the sheriff-substitute (Isabel Sinclair QC), fiscal depute (Margaret Kernohan) and sheriff clerk depute (Jaye Telfer) were all women.”

As James says, we have come a long way over the last 40 years in Scotland, haven’t we?