the times | Friday March 18 2022 53
Register
It was beyond the legislative
competence of the Scottish
Parliament to enact section 2 of
the Gender Representation on
Public Boards (Scotland) Act
2018 that defined “woman” as
including a person who: “has
the protected characteristic of
gender reassignment (within
the meaning of section 7 of the
Equality Act 2010) if, and only
if, the person is living as a
woman and is proposing to
undergo, is undergoing or has
undergone a process (or part of
a process) for the purpose of be-
coming female.”
The Inner House of the Court
of Session (Second Division) so
held in allowing the reclaiming
motion by For Women Scotland
Ltd from a decision of the Lord
Ordinary (Lady Wise) (2021
SLT 639) which refused their
petition for judicial review
against the Lord Advocate and
the Scottish ministers.
Aidan O’Neill QC for the pe-
titioners; Ruth Crawford QC
and Lesley Irvine for the re-
spondents.
The Lord Justice Clerk, giv-
ing the opinion of the court, said
that it was important at the out-
set to identify what the case was
not about. Although sub-
missions had been made, for in-
stance, critical of the process in-
volved in obtaining a gender re-
cognition certificate, policy
issues of that kind were beyond
the scope of the case.
The sole issue for the court
was the proper interpretation of,
inter alia, section 2 of the Gen-
Windsor Castle
17th March, 2022
His Excellency Mr Lounès
Magramane was received in
audience by The Queen today
via video link and presented
the Letters of Recall of his
predecessor and his own
Letters of Credence as
Ambassador from the People’s
Democratic Republic of
Algeria to the Court of St
James’s.
Mrs Magramane was also
received by Her Majesty.
His Excellency Mr Ilir Kapiti
was received in audience by
The Queen via video link and
presented the Letters of Recall
of his predecessor and his own
Letters of Credence as
Ambassador from the Republic
of Kosovo to the Court of St
James’s. Mrs Kapiti was also
received by Her Majesty.
Sir Philip Barton(Permanent Under-Secretary
of State for Foreign,
Commonwealth and
Development Affairs) was
present.Clarence House
17th March, 2022
The Prince of Wales, Patron,
this morning held a Meeting
for The Prince’s Countryside
Fund.
His Royal Highness this
afternoon held a Meeting for
the Sustainable Markets
Initiative via video link.Kensington Palace
17th March, 2022
The Duke of Cambridge,
Colonel, and The Duchess of
Cambridge this morning
presented Shamrock to the
Irish Guards at Mons Barracks,
Aldershot, Hampshire, on the
occasion of St Patrick’s Day.St James’s Palace
17th March, 2022
The Earl of Wessex, Chairman
of the Board of Trustees, The
Duke of Edinburgh’s
International Award
Foundation, today carried out
the following engagements in
Kenya, accompanied by the
British High Commissioner toBE angry but do not sin; do not let the sun
go down on your anger, and do not make
room for the devil.
Ephesians 4.26-27 (NRSV)
Bible verses are provided by the
Bible SocietyBirths, Marriages and Deaths
Marriages
MAJOR C. E. LUCAS
AND MISS N. R. COLYER
The marriage took place on
12th March 2022, at St Clement Danes
Church, Strand, London, between
Christopher Edward Lucas and
Nicola Rachel Colyer.Deaths
CARVER June Rosemary (née Maw).
Passed peacefully away on 13th March
2022, aged 90. Funeral service to take
place at Barham Crematorium. Family
flowers only. Donations, if desired, to
Dementia UK. All inquiries via C. W. Lyons &
Son Ltd, 70 Military Road, Canterbury, Kent.
CT1 1ND. Tel: 01227 463508.
HARMER William Russell died peacefully
on 11th March 2022, aged 78. Beloved
husband of Sarah and cherished father of
Arabella and Douglas. Private family
funeral, no flowers but donations, if
desired, to http://www.gaincharity.org.uk
HICKS His Honour John Hicks QC died
peacefully on 11th March 2022, aged 94.
Deeply loved husband of Mary, loving
father of their late children Elizabeth and
David, dear grandfather of Elen. The
funeral service will be held at Hinde Street
Methodist Church, London W1U 2QJ, on
Friday 1st April at noon.
KEMBER Dr Gordon William. Died
peacefully on Tuesday 8th March, aged 86.
Beloved husband of Maggie and
much-loved father and grandfather. Small
family service only. Donations, if desired, to
St Elizabeth’s Hospice or the East Anglian
Air Ambulance may be sent to Farthing
Funeral Service, Deben House,
650 Woodbridge Road, Ipswich, IP4 4PW,
or online http://www.farthingfunerals.co.uk
MARSHALL Dr Michael Harley. Teacher,
lecturer and academic; devoted husband of
Sarian May, beloved brother of Colin, Fleur
and Patrick, passed peacefully on 15th
February 2022. Inquiries to Churchills
Family Funeral Directors, telephone 020
8440 1413.
PURTON Peter John OBE died on 13th
March 2022, aged 88. Much-loved husband
to Mary, wonderful father to Catherine,
William (deceased) and Tom and adored
grandfather (Pa) to Charlie, Millie, Harry
and Olivia. Private family funeral.
RICKETTS Ann (née Lewis) died
peacefully on 8th March 2022, aged 74, at
St Christopher’s Hospice. Devoted widow of
Tristram, beloved mother of Stephen and
Clare, doting grandmother to Flora, Olive,
Freddy and Arthur, and loving sister to
Janet. A friend to many. Funeral at
St Stephen’s Church, Dulwich, on Friday
1st April at 1.45pm. Family flowers only.
Donations for St Christopher’s Hospice may
be sent c/o W. Uden and Sons, 375 Lordship
Lane, London SE22 8JJ (020 8693 1526).
ROBINSON Patricia Mary (née McCarthy),
wife of the late Lt Col John Timothy (Tim)
Robinson MC RA, died peacefully at home
on Sunday 27th February, aged 99. Beloved
wife, mother, grandmother and
great-grandmother, she will be sorely
missed. Funeral service to take place on
Wednesday 23rd March 2022 at noon at
St Osmund’s Church, Salisbury. Family
flowers only. Donations, if desired, to
Salisbury Hospice Charity. All inquiries to
I. N. Newman Ltd, 55 Winchester Street,
Salisbury, SP1 1HL, tel no. 01722 413136.
RYBACKI Anthony Edward died
peacefully on 3rd March 2022, aged 68.
Beloved husband of Jane and wonderful
father to James and Thomas.
TEMPEST (Leslie) Paul passed away
peacefully after a short illness on Sunday
6th March 2022, aged 85, at Queen
Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich. Beloved
husband of the late Jennifer Tempest,
loving father to Stephen, Clare and Susie,
and adored grandfather to Amy, Jo, Jake,
Theo and Saskia.
WELLBY Helen (née Colley) died
peacefully on 12th March 2022, aged 75, at
home with her children about her, after a
hard final journey. The wine of life is drawn.
Dearly loved grandmother, mother, sister,
wife and mistress to Beppo. Family funeral
on 1st April. Thanksgiving service in Lewes
in April/May, date to be announced very
soon.
WILTSHIRE Susan Gay (née Cotman)
died peacefully on 3rd March 2022 but
unexpectedly. Adored wife of Kenneth and
a gifted artist. Funeral service at Salisbury
Crematorium at 10am on 23rd March. No
flowers please, but donations to the
Children’s Society or British Heart
Foundation c/o Chris White Funeral
Directors 01722 411919 or
http://www.chriswhitefunerals.co.uk020 7782 7553
newsukadvertising.co.ukThe simple way to place your
announcement in The Times.
newsukadvertising.co.ukthe Republic of Kenya (Her
Excellency Ms Jane Marriott).
His Royal Highness this
morning called upon The
President of the Republic of
Kenya at State House, Nairobi.
The Earl of Wessex later
attended a Meeting with Dr
Sara Ruto (Chief
Administrative Secretary at
the Ministry for Education)
and Mr Joseph Mucheru
(Cabinet Secretary for
Information and
Communications Technology,
Innovation and Youth Affairs)
at the Serena Hotel,
Processional Way, Nairobi City.
His Royal Highness
afterwards attended a Meeting
followed by a Luncheon for
The President’s Award Kenya
at the Serena Hotel.
The Earl of Wessex this
evening attended a World
Fellowship Dinner given by the
British High Commissioner to
the Republic of Kenya at the
Residence.
The Countess of Wessex this
evening arrived at Heathrow
Airport, London, from the
United States of America.
Mr Alexander Stonor and
Mrs Angus Galletley were in
attendance.Court Circular
LEGAL, PUBLIC, COMPANY &
PARLIAMENTARY NOTICES
To place notices for these
sections please call
020 7481 4000
Notices are subject to
confirmation and should be
received by 11.30am three
days prior to insertionLaw Report
Scottish parliament cannot redefine meaning
of ‘woman’ to include transgender women
der Representation on Public
Boards (Scotland) Act 2018,
considered in the light of section
29 of the Scotland Act 1998. The
purpose of the 2018 Act was to
arrive eventually at a system
where 50 per cent of the non-ex-
ecutive members of public
boards in Scotland were women.
Equal opportunities was a re-
served matter under the Scot-
land Act 1998, subject to the ex-
ception, introduced by the Scot-
land Act 2016, of any aspect of
equal opportunities “relating to
the inclusion of persons with
protected characteristics” on
Scottish public boards. The
Scottish Parliament was en-
titled to make provision for the
inclusion of women or those
with other protected character-
istics on boards. The Scottish
Parliament had the power to
amend the Equality Act 2010 to
do so.
But one aspect of the 2010 Act
which could not be modified
was the definition of “protected
characteristic”, which, for the
purposes of the exception, had:
“the same meaning as in the
Equality Act 2010.”
The protected characteristics
listed in the 2010 Act included
“sex” and “gender reassign-
ment”. The Scottish Parliament
would have been entitled to
make provision in respect of ei-
ther or both those charact-
eristics.
A person who had a protected
characteristic of “sex” was ei-
ther a man or a woman. A
“man”, for the purposes of the
2010 Act, was a male of any age;
and a “woman” was a female of
any age. Section 11(b) of the 2010
Act indicated that when one
spoke of individuals sharing the
protected characteristic of sex,
one was taken to be referring to
one or other sex, either male orfemale. Thus an exception
which allowed the Scottish Par-
liament to take steps relating to
the inclusion of women, as
having a protected characteris-
tic of sex, was limited to allow-
ing provision to be made in re-
spect of a “female of any age”.
Provisions in favour of women,
in that context, by definition ex-
cluded those who were biologi-
cally male.
A person had the protected
characteristic of “gender re-
assignment” if the person was
“proposing to undergo, is under-
going or has undergone a pro-
cess (or part of a process) for the
purposes of reassigning the per-
son’s sex by changing physiolog-
ical or other attributes of sex”
and a person having such a char-
acteristic was a “transsexual
person” (section 7 of the 2010
Act).
No distinction was made
between those for whom the rel-
evant process would involve re-
assignment male to female or
vice versa.
In other words, it was the
attribute of proposing to under-
go, undergoing or having under-
gone a process (or part of a pro-
cess) for the purpose of reassign-
ment which was the common
factor, not the sex into which the
person was reassigned.
It was reasonable to assume
that at some stage of the process
in question the individual would
start living as a member of the
sex to which they were seeking
to transition, but it was not a
specified requirement for the
acquisition of the protected
characteristic.
By incorporating those trans-
sexuals living as women into the
definition of woman the 2018
Act conflated and confused two
separate and distinct protected
characteristics, and in one casequalified the nature of the char-
acteristic which was to be given
protection.
It would have been open to
the Scottish Parliament to in-
clude an equal opportunities ob-
jective on public boards aimed
at encouraging representation
of women. It would have been
open to them separately to do so
for any other protected charac-
teristic, including that of gender
reassignment.
That was not what they had
done. They had chosen to make
a representation objective in
relation to women but expand-
ed the definition of women to in-
clude only some of those
possessing the protected char-
acteristic of gender reassign-
ment. It qualified the latter char-
acteristic by protecting only
those with that characteristic
who were also living as women.
The Lord Ordinary stated
that the 2018 Act did not rede-
fine “woman” for any other pur-
pose than “to include transgen-
der women as another cate-
gory” of people who would
benefit from the positive
measure.
Therein lay the rub: “trans-
gender women” was not a cate-
gory for present purposes; it was
not a protected characteristic
and for the reasons given, the
definition of “woman” adopted
in the Act impinged on the na-
ture of protected characteristics
which was a reserved matter.
Changing the definitions of pro-
tected characteristic, even for
the purpose of achieving the
gender representation objec-
tive, was not permitted and in
that respect the 2018 Act was
outwith legislative competence.Law Agents: Balfour & Manson
LLP; Scottish Government
Legal Directorate.Inner House of the Court of Session
Published on March 18, 2022
For Women Scotland Limited v The
Lord Advocate
Before Lady Dorrian, Lord Justice Clerk,
Lord Malcolm and Lord Pentland
[2022] CSIH 4
Judgment February 18, 2022
Join us for breakfast
Listen to Aasmah Mir and
Stig Abell on Times Radio,
Monday to Thursday at 6amPolitics with no boring bits
Listen to Matt Chorley on
Times Radio, Monday to
Friday at 10amLegal Notices