Meeting of the Parliament 27 June 2018
What can I say? I have been found out. No, not on this occasion, Mr Findlay.
There is a need to balance the rights and obligations of creditors and debtors, which is what the bill aims to achieve. It also aims to achieve desirable clarity in the current prescription regime, because fairness requires that and not just the balancing of interests. It is that particular aspect of clarity on which the current law has been found to be wanting in a number of respects. The bill is to be welcomed, for we all need to know where we stand when it comes to our rights and obligations, and we need to know within a reasonable time. Any lack of clarity in prescriptive rules is undesirable.
There are of course points that need to be looked at carefully, and those have been covered by my colleagues, members of the committee and others who have spoken. There is an issue with the section 5 discoverability test. There can be complexity in relation to multiple defenders, particularly where the burden of proof is being placed on the pursuer rather than the defender. There is a question in relation to heritable rights at 20-year prescription where the land register has failed to correctly reflect rights and obligations. Finally, there is the point that Mr Findlay eloquently raised and talked about—perhaps in a speech lifted from Mr Stevenson—to do with recovery of taxes and obligations to the state. The question that he raised was why there should be a longer period for that than there is in relation to private individuals.
16:17