This snippet from the Belfast Telegraph caught my eye:
“In Scotland, there are courts where Gàidhlig can be heard every day.”
Really? Certainly the Scottish Courts Service has a small collection of information leaflets available in Gàidhlig, but is it heard? And every day?
Which of our Sheriffs is dispensing justice in the language of the Gaels? I’d like to know.
This article in The Scotsman suggests that it was only in 2005 that a lawyer first used Gaelic in court, and that with special permission from the Sheriff to mark the Mod. It goes on to note that it is it was now “possible” to use Gaelic in the sheriff courts of Stornoway, Portree and Lochmaddy – following the ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
Posted on Absolvitor: Scots Law Online.