Private Law Reform in a Changing World

Essays in Honour of Professor Kenneth McK. Norrie

Edited by Michelle Donnelly, Alyson Evans

Hardback (Forthcoming)

$145.00

Ebook (app) i

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Ebook (PDF) i

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Reflects on forty years of private law reform against the background of broader legal and societal changes

Brings together different perspectives on key contemporary issues in private law
Marks, celebrates and reflects upon Professor Norrie’s contribution to the discipline
Covers a breadth of private law issues, for example medical law, child & family law, delict and succession
Considers law reform in diverse areas, collectively spanning the 40 years of Professor Norrie’s career
Features a range of leading contributors in the field, including academics and practitioners

Bringing together a range of leading private law scholars, this book considers developments in law, policy and practice resulting from, and driven by wider changes in society and the legal system over the last forty years.

In reflecting on these developments, the book honours the scholarship of Professor Kenneth McK. Norrie who spent his forty-year academic career expertly navigating this changing world, identifying the legal implications of it and contributing to law reform in several areas of Scots law. One of the unique features of Professor Norrie’s scholarship is its breadth and so, in celebration of this, contributions come from across private law including its interface with public law.

Private Law Reform in a Changing World brings together different perspectives on key contemporary issues in private law covering varied and topical areas of law such as abortion, children’s rights, youth justice and child protection, parenthood, adult intimate relationships, delict and succession.

Contents

Foreword - Right Hon. Lady Wise

1. Introduction: private law reform in a changing world
Michelle Donnelly and Alyson Evans
2. What would a progressive abortion law look like in Scotland?
Lynsey Mitchell
3. ‘Bad policy, bad law and bad practice’ or ‘the best children’s rights legislation in the world’: UNCRC incorporation in Scotland
Bruce Adamson
4. Age, maturity and the law in the lives of children and young people in Scotland
Elaine E Sutherland
5. Crossing borders: changing approaches to children’s views
Janys M Scott
6. From ‘rough and ready’ to regulated? The case for children’s rights-based reform in childhood negligence proceedings
Lesley-Anne Barnes Macfarlane
7. Disputed information in a children’s hearing: is there still a defence of O v. Rae?
Alyson Evans
8. Navigating protection and autonomy in Scottish child justice: youth courts for children and young people
Michelle Donnelly
9. Trans parenthood, legal parenthood, gender identity and legal gender recognition: ‘factual purposes’ and ‘legal statuses’
Alan Brown
10. ‘Their battle is our battle’: positionality, unity, equality and the legacy of Professor Norrie
Rob Clucas and Richard Whitecross
11. Relationship recognition beyond marriage
Jens M Scherpe
12. Case-watching and trendspotting: charting domestic abuse in Scots family law judgments
Jane Mair
13. Lee v. Ashers Baking Company Ltd and the right to avoid compelled speech
Mary Neal
14. Reflecting on romantic romanisms: divine Janus and the delict of ‘assault’
Jonathan Brown
15. A right to redress: private law and harmful speech acts in the digital era
Stephen Bogle
16. Public attitudes to intestate succession in Scotland: fairness and complex families
Dot Reid
17. Shaping and illuminating the law: Professor Norrie’s contribution to Scots law
Gillian Black

About the Author

Michelle Donnelly is a Lecturer at Strathclyde Law School (2021-present). She was previously appointed as a Lecturer in Law and the Director of the BA Law Programmes at the University of Stirling (2018-2021) and held roles as a Teaching Associate (2017-2018) and Research Associate (2016-2017) at Strathclyde. Dr Donnelly is a socio-legal researcher with interests in child and family law and justice, mainly focused on compulsory state intervention in family life. Her PhD thesis (2017) examined the unitary nature of the children’s hearings system as an integrated child protection and justice forum. She has contributed to studies examining aspects of children’s hearings practice and child justice more broadly. Dr Donnelly is a Co-Investigator for a major research programme funded by the Nuffield Foundation, ‘Challenging Justice Inequalities. Co-producing change with children in conflict with the law’ (2024-2026).

Alyson Evans is a Lecturer in Scots Private Law at Strathclyde Law School (2023-present). Before joining the Law School, she held a number of posts working in strategy, policy and practice in relation to child protection and most recently was Head of Wellbeing and Protection for the Scottish Football Association for five years. Dr Evans’ research interests relate broadly to child and family law, specifically the children’s hearings system and child protection in familial and non-familial settings. Dr Evans has a PhD from Strathclyde (2022), achieved through part-time study alongside full-time employment, which considered legal rights in the children’s hearings system. She has continued her research focus on the children’s hearings system as author of several publications on the system.