§ Mr. CarmichaelTo ask the Advocate-General on how many occasions she has appeared in court as Advocate-General since the general election. [29342]
The Advocate-GeneralSince June 2001 I have personally appeared in court in two cases. The first was Karl Anderson, Alexander Reid and Brian Dohertyv. The Scottish Ministers and the Advocate-General for Scotland, which was a human rights challenge to the first Act passed by the Scottish Parliament, the Mental Health (Public Safety and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 1999. This case was heard over four days in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in July 2001 and followed my appearance personally in the case in the Inner House, heard over several days in May 2000.
The second case was Kenneth Anthony Paton Mills and John Cochrane v. Her Majesty's Advocate and the Advocate-General for Scotland which was heard in the Appeal Court, High Court of Justiciary in August 2001. My interest in this case was to determine questions concerning the interrelationship of the Scotland Act 1998 and the Human Rights Act 1998.