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I. International Law and Nuclear Weapons in Scottish Courts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2008

Stephen C. Neff
Affiliation:
University of EdinburghJune 2001

Extract

Britain's Trident nuclear missile programme has long been politically controversial. In 1999, the controversy entered the judicial arena in Scotland, in two cases involving ‘direct action’ against Trident installations by anti-nuclear activists. In both cases, the actions were intended not as protests against Britain's nuclear-weapons policy, but rather as actual operations to disable the weapons themselves. The acts were, in other words, in the nature of acts of sabotage. Both incidents led to criminal prosecutions. In both cases, the accused parties sought to use international law as a defence. In both cases, the Appeal Court of the High Court of Justiciary—the highest court for criminal cases in Scotland—rejected the defence. In the process, however, the Appeal Court had occasion to expound upon some controversial points regarding nuclear weapons. Each of these cases will be discussed in turn.

Type
Current Developments Public International Law
Copyright
Copyright © British Institute of International and Comparative Law 2002

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References

1 John v Donnelly, 1999 SC 336.

2 Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, 1996 ICJ Rep. 225 [hereinafter referred to as ICJ Opinion].

3 Ibid, at 339.

4 Greenock Trial Transcript, at 158. On the issues that arose at the trial, see generally Neff, ‘Idealism’.

5 Lord Advocate's Reference, No 1 of 2001, 2001 SLT 507 [hereinafter referred to as LA Reference].

6 Ibid, at 530.

7 Criminal Law Act 1967, c 58, s 3(1).

8 Trendtex Trading Corp. v Central Bank of Nigeria [1977] QB 529.

9 LA Reference, at 512.

10 Ibid, at 512–13.

11 Ibid, at 527.

12 ICJ Opinion, para 105.

13 LA Reference, at 528.

14 Ibid.

15 Ibid, at 529–30.

16 See, in this regard, the leading Scots-law case of Moss v Howdle, 1997 SLT 782; 1997 SC 123.