Individuals requesting access to the hearing on the 4th at the Court of Session have received a reply with information on how to gain access to view proceedings. It seems that the court has decided to publish the details publicly. Therefore we're sharing what has been advised...
...so that the court is not inundated with emails.
In their response to requests for access they said:
For those interested in dialling-in to the Martin Keatings v the Advocate General & Others hearing on 4 November, please see the Scottish Courts and Tribunals web page for access details - which will be published once available.
All future requests should be made to onlinehearingaccess@scotcourts.gov.uk. All other enquiries will be responded to.
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We are now less than 7 days from what is known as the by-order roll hearing. This hearing is to establish the schedule and process moving forward where parties are unable to agree. It is also the point where things should become public in terms of the arguments made.
We are hoping this hearing will also be available for public consumption. With COVID 19, the courts are currently conducting many of the hearings by teleconferencing and by video conferencing.
As you are aware, there have been several developments in the last month, not least the First Ministers announcement of a draft bill to be laid before the Scottish Parliament.
Last nights social media event went much better than expected and as a result, at the point of writing this email, we are less than £11,500 from our £155K target. Not to mention the fact that my inbox was inundated with press enquiries.
So! With that in mind, we think that if we can get one last push by repeating the same tonight, we can hit our target by Monday morning and have a bit of a Monday morning surprise for the UK Government.
So! Please read carefully
We have a small favour to ask.
Tonight at 8 pm exactly, we ask that you send out a post or tweet on social media which includes the hashtag #peoplesAS30 and the link below.
Tonight I update you on the fact that we're now going to court.
We have now received the interlocutor confirming that the closed record has been received by the court and a By Order (Adjustment) Roll hearing has been fixed for Wednesday 30 September.
In English: The interlocutor is the order of the court which states that they accept the "closed record". The closed record is basically a combined folder of all the pleadings (submissions) for ourselves and for the other parties to the case, all organised into an ...
MARTIN JAMES KEATINGS v (FIRST) THE ADVOCATE GENERAL FOR SCOTLAND; (SECOND) THE LORD ADVOCATE; and (THIRD) THE SCOTTISH MINISTERS (Commonly referred to as "The Peoples Action on Section 30" case.)
The case is seeking a declarator of the Court, that the Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate for the holding of a referendum on whether Scotland should be an independent country, without requiring the consent of the UK government.
We've just had word that the Scottish Government have enrolled a standard motion to establish whether the case should proceed under Judicial Review or Ordinary Cause. (Different types of procedures) and also to establish whether the case has permission to proceed.
Both of these are normal because under the Court of Session Act 1988 a judicial review requires consent from the Lord Ordinary (judge in the court of session) to proceed.
While this is all pretty standard stuff. I'm not quite sure what the specifics are yet, but they will come in good time.
There are quite a few asking about the timetable moving forward on the #PeopleAS30 case, so we can give you a preliminary idea of what happens next in terms of judicial review. However, please be advised that this is subject to change in light of #COVID19
As you all know, on Friday, we formally served the summons on the Advocate General of the UK Government. This was by recorded delivery. There is a 21 day period of "service" and that clock starts today.
This will bring us to the 14th of April 2020. On the 14th, our legal counsel will formally lodge the summons with the court. At this point, it will formally "Call in Court".