The Scottish Government has launched two consultations on coal extraction and onshore conventional oil and gas, motivated by its target date for net zero emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2045 and the aims of the Paris Agreement. The consultations will undertake an evidence-gathering process to establish the Scottish Government’s finalised policy position on coal extraction and onshore conventional oil and gas. Responses can be submitted until 2 August 2022.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service has announced that it is introducing bulk submission on its Civil Online service which is used for simple procedure cases. The new Application Programming Interface will enable legal firms to transfer simple procedure applications from their internal case management systems directly onto Civil Online, and in addition, ‘where legal firms are dealing with high volumes of simple procedure cases, they will now have the option to register them digitally, rather than manually registering each individual application’. In order not to flood the court system, submission limits will be set at 10 cases per firm each day per court. This limit will be ‘regularly reviewed and incrementally extended’.

The tables below comprise an archive of news analysis on Scotland and Scots law developments published within various practice areas. For specific content relating to coronavirus (COVID-19), see the Coronavirus (COVID-19)—Scotland tracker [Archived]. News analysis 2026 col style="width: 33%;"> Date News analysis Brief description of news analysis 14 October 2026 MoD granted permission to appeal reservist pension ruling in Court of Session Law360: Scotland’s highest civil court will hear the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) appeal against a ruling concerning the pension treatment of part-time army reservists compared with full-time personnel, in a case that could affect more than 1,000 stayed claims. 23 September 2026 DNO raises the price for Capricorn to make Egypt its third core area Market Standards analysis: On 1 September 2026, DNO ASA (DNO) announced a recommended cash and special dividend offer for the acquisition of Capricorn Energy plc (Capricorn). The offer valued Capricorn at approximately £292 million, representing a 45% premium. The acquisition will be implemented by way of a Scottish Court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement. A Scottish scheme is the usual court-led route for a Scottish

The Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) has presented the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Act 2024 (Consequential Amendments and Forms) Regulations 2025 to Parliament and if passed, will come into effect on 25 June 2025, following April's Commencement No.2 regulations (which will implement sections 4, 5, 11 and 12 of the 2024 Act). The new regulations amend the Bankruptcy Applications and Decisions Regulations 2016 to align notification processes when the AiB acts as trustee in recall cases, and introduce new forms to facilitate trustee resignation in instances involving non-cooperating debtors.

What is a Bankruptcy Restriction Order? Where an individual is sequestrated, he/she will be subject to restrictions under the terms of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016 (Ba(S)A 2016) and other legislation. In the ordinary course, a debtor will be discharged from sequestration one year after the commencement of the sequestration and will cease to be subject to restrictions that apply to undischarged bankrupts. A Bankruptcy Restriction Order (BRO) is an order that can be made against a debtor, following an application to the Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) (see Practice Note: Scotland: the Accountant in Bankruptcy) or the Sheriff, which places restrictions on the debtor following their discharge from sequestration. For a glossary of commonly used insolvency Scottish insolvency terms, see Practice Note: Glossary of Scottish insolvency words and expressions. Effects of a BRO The effect of a BRO is to impose restrictions on the debtor for the duration of the order. Ba(S)A 2016 does not list all of the restrictions which will apply where a BRO is in place. Instead, one must look to other

Revenue Scotland has confirmed Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) legislative changes that come into effect on 1 April 2024, for transactions with an effective date on or after 1 April 2024 (changes are not retrospective): timelines, small shares, inherited dwellings, divorce/separation, joint buyers, local authorities. These changes affect both ADS and Local Authority Relief guidance.

This Practice Note is archived and no longer maintained. The table below shows the expiry of various support measures as applicable to Scotland (as part of the UK or in its own right, as indicated by the last column). September 2021 Date Event Scope 30 September 2021 Temporary restrictions on winding-up petitions and statutory demands expire and are replaced by new measures from 1 October 2021 (see below).See Practice Note: Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020—temporary changes to corporate statutory demands and winding-up petitions [Archived], Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (Coronavirus) (Extension of Relevant Period) (No. 2) Regulations, SI 2021/718 and Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (Coronavirus) (Amendment of Schedule 10) (No. 2) Regulations 2021, SI 2021/1091. UK 30 September 2021 Expiry of the provision allowing more than one moratorium on diligence in any 12-month period.See Coronavirus (Extension and Expiry) (Scotland) Act 2021 Scotland 30 September 2021 The relaxation of eligibility criteria for companies applying for a moratorium expires (Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act

This Practice Note is a ‘how to’ guide on responding to a civil claim raised in the Scottish courts. It covers both initial case assessment and the principal procedural steps needed to defend the claim or introduce a counterclaim. The Practice Note assumes that the action is to be defended and that no key procedural deadlines have been missed. The guide deals with ordinary and commercial actions. Personal injury, family, intellectual property, petitions, judicial review and other specialist procedures have separate rules, forms and timetables and are not covered in this Practice Note. For guidance on practice and procedure post-defences, see Practice Notes: Progressing and case managing a civil claim in Scotland and Preparation for proof in Scottish civil litigation. Pre-action requirements In ordinary actions, there is no general mandatory requirement in Scotland to intimate a claim or engage in pre-action correspondence before proceedings are raised. Commercial actions are different. In the sheriff courts, the respective Sheriffdom’s practice note on commercial action procedure will contain pre-action requirements.

FORTHCOMING CHANGE: The Scottish government is conducting a review of LBTT that commenced in spring 2025. This Table considers how land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT) applies to common lease transactions. For more detailed commentary on LBTT generally, see Practice Notes: • Scotland: Land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT)—the basics • Scotland: Land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT)—chargeable consideration and rates of LBTT • Scotland: Land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT)—particular transactions and taxpayers • Scotland: Land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT)—administration and compliance LBTT is payable on leases of Scottish property in broadly similar fashion to stamp duty land tax (SDLT) on leases of English property with one significant exception—leases of residential property are exempt from LBTT unless: • the transaction involves six or more residential properties in which case, it will be treated as if it were non-residential property and subject to LBTT accordingly • the transaction involves a mix of residential and non-residential property in which case, it will also be treated as non-residential property, and • the

FORTHCOMING CHANGE: The Scottish government is conducting a review of LBTT that commenced in spring 2025. Particular areas of focus include the use of non-residential rates for ’mixed’ transactions, multiple dwellings relief, the 6+ exemption from the additional dwellings supplement, first time buyer relief, the three-yearly lease review returns, and whether something can usefully be done to tie LBTT rates to net zero goals. No change is expected until after the Scottish Parliament elections (which must take place by 7 May 2026). This Practice Note is one in a series on the Scottish land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT): • Scotland: Land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT)—the basics • Scotland: Land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT)—chargeable consideration and rates of LBTT • Scotland: Land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT)—particular transactions and taxpayers, and • Scotland: Land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT) on leases—table This Practice Note deals with compliance issues related to LBTT, including: • the obligation to make an LBTT return • payment of LBTT • enquiries,

FORTHCOMING CHANGE: The Scottish government is conducting a review of LBTT that commenced in spring 2025. Particular areas of focus include the use of non-residential rates for ’mixed’ transactions, multiple dwellings relief, the 6+ exemption from the additional dwellings supplement, first time buyer relief, the three-yearly lease review returns, and whether something can usefully be done to tie LBTT rates to net zero goals. No change is expected until after the Scottish Parliament elections (which must take place by 7 May 2026). How is LBTT calculated? The amount of land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT) that is due on a land transaction is calculated by applying the appropriate rate or rates of tax (including a nil rate) to the amount of the chargeable consideration. Where apparently separate transactions are linked by the legislation, the LBTT due has to be calculated as if there were only one transaction. Revenue Scotland provides online facilities for calculating the amount of LBTT due—see Revenue Scotland property transactions

FORTHCOMING CHANGE: The Scottish government is conducting a review of LBTT that commenced in spring 2025. The Scottish government is also considering introducing LBTT reliefs in respect of Co-ownership Authorised Contractual Schemes (CoACS), Property Authorised Investment Funds (PAIFs) and Reserved Investor Funds (RIFs); a consultation document was published on 11 July 2025. For more information, see OEICS (including PAIFs), CoACSs and RIFs below. The background to and general concepts applicable to land and buildings transactions tax (LBTT) are set out in Practice Note: Scotland: Land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT)—the basics. This Practice Note summarises how LBTT applies to certain particular categories of transactions and taxpayers, including: • leases and licences • options and right of pre-emption • contract providing for conveyance to third party • sub-sale development relief • exchanges and partitions • partnerships • joint buyers • residential property holding companies • trusts • open ended investment companies (OEICs) and certain other types of funds • charities • group relief • pension funds • green freeports, and • certain