Legal Solutions For Children: Comparing Scots Law With Other Jurisdictions

Almost every area of law could provide legal solutions or protections for children: negligence law allows them to recover from those who injure them; environmental and planning laws set health and safety standards for their surroundings; the law of social security affects their standard of living. There are, however, four major areas of law concerned particularly with children, rather than regarding children as just one potential client group. These arc: juvenile justice; public child care and protection law; custody and access cases within family law; and education law. Education law is the least developed of these areas. It is not yet taught to law students on undergraduate courses, or in the diploma in legal practice. Understandably, therefore, few solicitors in Scotland have expertise in this Held. The situation is, however, being considered by the Law Society of Scotland as part of a Legal Education and Training Review, and the development of this area of law may best be considered at another time. I would like to consider the three other areas, discuss developments in thinking and practice both in Scotland and abroad, and highlight some issues which may be of particular importance. Alison Cleland is a solicitor with the Scottish Child Law Centre and is Scottish Co­ ordinator of the Children's Rights Development Unit. She has recently returned from an English Speaking Union scholarship trip, studying child law in the USA, Australia and New Zealand.