Scottish Criminal Evidence: Procedure and Practice was to be a companion volume to Sheriff Court Practice and Evidence. Iain Macphail was working on it at the time of his death and, at the request of his family, the manuscript is now published as he left it, for the benefit of all scholars of Scots criminal law.
The structure of the book had been fully planned and the chapters published here are complete and were revised by the author – his own notes for further research and consideration are included. They represent about half of the intended work and cover: relevance; the burden and standard of proof; and rules relating to the competence, compellability, and examination of witnesses.
Iain Macphail was a distinguished judge and a legal scholar. He was a sheriff, Sheriff Principal of Lothian and Borders and a Senator of the College of Justice. From 2001-02 he held the Arthur Goodhart Visiting Professorship in Legal Science at the University of Cambridge.
