THE political issues may be combustible, but few rhetorical fireworks went off on Tuesday as the UK Supreme Court began its two-day oral hearing on whether the Scottish Parliament has the legislative competence to hold its own referendum on Scottish independence.
Viewers who tuned in expecting to hear evidence and witnesses and cross-examination, or lawyers arguing about the right of self-determination in international law, or reflection of the significance of the Claim of Right – 1689 or 1989 – were destined to be disappointed.
Because this case turns not on these principles, but the approach Lord Reed and his four colleagues take to the construction of the Scotland Act 1998 and its complex and often convoluted system of devolved and reserved powers.
