Generate a structured brief — facts, issues, held, reasoning, and significance — for this case in seconds. Or browse the verbatim judgment via the source links below.
[1] On 18 September 2014 there will be a referendum in Scotland ("the independence referendum") to answer the question: "Should Scotland be an independent country?" This is laid down in section 1 of the Scottish Independence Referendum Bill which passed the Scottish Parliament in November 2013. It has not yet received the royal assent, but there is no doubt that it will in due course become law. It has the support of the United Kingdom government.
[2] This opinion, covering the arguments raised in three petitions, is concerned with the right to vote in that independence referendum. In particular, it concerns the right of convicted prisoners to vote. This is presently excluded by a blanket ban on prisoners voting. This was enacted by the Scottish Parliament. The question before the court is as to the legality of that blanket ban.
[4] The relevant sections of the Franchise Act are sections 2 and 3, which provide so far as material as follows:
(1) A person is entitled to vote in an independence referendum if, on the date on which the poll that the referendum is held, the person is -
(i) the register of local government electors maintained under section 9(1)(b) of the [Representation of the People Act 1983] for any area in Scotland, or
Auto-extracted from BAILII. Full structured brief in progress — the source links below give you the verbatim judgment in the meantime.
Multiple official and mirror sources — pick whichever loads cleanly on your network.
Common Room
0 comments · About the Common Room →
No comments yet — start the discussion.
Voted-best comments help future students and feed Caselaw's AI study tools.