§ 107. Mr. Hector Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is aware that the certificate of death of Sergeant O'Rorke, deceased, of Aberdeen, particulars of which have been sent to him has been refused as evidence of death by the Sheriff of Chancery; that this imposes hardship, delay and expense on the parties 88W who desire to complete title in this and similar cases; and will he take immediate steps to rectify this.
§ The Lord AdvocateI have been asked to reply. The certificate which the Air Ministry felt able to issue in this case stated that Sergeant O'Rorke was missing and that he was presumed for official purposes to have lost his life. I am aware that some Courts in Scotland do not accept such a certificate as sufficient evidence of death for the purpose of giving the Serviceman's heirs a good title to his heritable property. This is, of course, a matter for the discretion of the Court concerned in each case and it is not possible for the Executive to interfere. My predecessor considered whether legislation should be introduced to equiparate certificates in the terms I have mentioned to certificates of actual death for the purposes of completion of heritable title but decided that this could not be justified as the number of cases in which hardship has in practice been experienced was small and as the time was near when such cases could be remedied by processes of the ordinary law. I also have considered the matter and see no reason to differ from the conclusion of my predecessor.