Transcript

INSTRUCTOR:

Openness and accessibility to the legal system in Scotland is still very important. Access to justice is a very big issue, particularly with recent press coverage around cuts in legal aid. There are quite a lot of people out there who quite simply wouldn't be able to afford access to solicitors without the support of legal aid.

So openness and accessibility is very, very important. There has to be a number of different routes available to people that can ensure that, if you like, they get their day in court, that they get the chance to be heard And if ultimately the court agrees with them, then great. But the fact that they should be able to put their case forward and put their position forward is definitely very important.

Quite a lot of times now in media there is a lot of scrutiny around the courts, around judges and decision making, particularly around high-profile criminal cases. If the sentence isn't sufficiently long enough, people feel that justice is not being done. If there is a sufficiently harsh sentence, then people see that as the right call.

Law permeates every aspect of society, so yes there is criminal law to ensure that people who commit wrongs are suitably punished. But every other aspect of society is regulated by law. So you go and buy something out of a shop, it's governed by terms and conditions. So there's a contract there. You've also got the Sale of Goods Act, which is a statutory provision which protects you in relation to the purchasing of those goods. If you want to go to university, there will be a contract you would sign with the university agreeing to adhere to a code of conduct.

Every aspect of society is covered by law. What it does is it allows us to go about our day-to-day lives. And as long as the law is complied with, then there will be no issue. If it's not complied with, then the law enforcement agencies and the courts are there to ensure that there are solutions in order to deal with any breach of law.