UK Supreme Court confirms Edinburgh sitting dates

10th April 2017 | civil litigation

The UK Supreme Court will sit in Edinburgh between Monday 12 and Thursday 15 June 2017, the court confirmed today. 

Last month the court announced that for the first time it would sit outside London in what the President, Lord Neuberger, said was intended to be the first of a number of visits to the capital cities of the devolved nations. (Click here for report.)

In Edinburgh the court will sit in the City Chambers, which not being a Scottish court building will permit proceedings to be filmed and relayed live online, as is usual with Supreme Court appeals.

The court will sit as a panel of five judges, with Lord Neuberger presiding. It will hear three cases over the four day period:

  • on Monday 12 June, from 11am-4pm, Sadovska and another v Secretary of State for the Home Department, which relates to the evidential burden on the state when disrupting "sham marriages";
  • on Tuesday 13 June, from 10.30am-4pm, Aberdeen City and Shire Strategic Development Planning Authority v Elsick Development Company Ltd, on the correct legal test to be applied when assessing planning obligations, and the extent to which planning authorities are bound to comply with national planning policy;
  • and on Wednesday 14 June, from 10.30am-4pm and Thursday 15 June, from 10.30am-1pm, Brown v The Scottish Ministers, which relates to the obligation on the state to assist the rehabilitation of determinate sentence prisoners. The Lord President, Lord Carloway, will be part of the panel hearing this appeal.

On the Thursday afternoon a number of the Justices will be speaking at a professional development session at the invitation of the Law Society of Scotland.

Arrangements are being made for approximately 120 seats for members of the public to attend and observe hearings, on a first come first served basis – a larger capacity than the court’s main courtroom in London. Following its usual practice, the court will not be reserving seats or issuing tickets in advance. Demand for seats is expected to be highest on the first day's sitting.