On Friday, July 20th, the Scottish Court of Criminal Appeal
reversed the verdict of murder against °seat Slater. Slater had served eighteen years in prison. His case would have been reviewed long ago if there had been a Court of Criminal Appeal in Scotland, but this did not come into existence till 1926. Most of the points of which much has been made by those writers and lawyers who have earnestly asked for a rehearing of Slater's case were passed over by the Court of Appeal as being of no great importance. The real reason for their reversal of the verdict was that the Judge at the original trial told the jury that the allegations against Slater of despicable and vicious practices might be taken into account when they were considering the likelihood of Slater being a murderer. This was clearly a misdirection in law, opposed to all legal tradition in both Scotland and England. Presumably the jury were influenced by the misdirection—Slater did not receive the benefit of what would otherwise have been a doubt in the jury's mind. We hope to hear that Slater has been compensated as in the circumstances he ought to be.
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