MR. DICK-PEDDIEasked the Lord Advocate, Whether his attention has been directed to the circumstance that in two recent cases in the Court of Session the representatives of the press have been denied access to interlocutors issued by the Lord Ordinary; and, whether the Clerks of the Court have power to prevent the judgments of the Lord Ordinary being made public; and, if they have, whether he will take steps to deprive them of that power?
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. M'LAREN)Sir, it is quite clear that, in 21 some form, the public are entitled to be put in possession of the opinions and decisions of the Judges of the Court of Session in contentious cases. In consequence of the difficulty referred to in the Question, the Lords Ordinary have resolved, in future, to deliver their judgments viva voce in open Court, instead of in writing; and the Press will, in future, have the same facilities for reporting the judgments in such cases as exist in the other Superior Courts of the United Kingdom.