MSPs have voted unanimously to pass the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill, which was introduced by Rhona Grant MSP on 27th May 2010. The Bill creates a specific type of interdict for domestic abuse situations and breach of such orders will be classed as a criminal, instead of a civil, offence.
The legislation currently states that an interdict can be deemed a domestic abuse interdict if it has been made against person who is, or was, in an intimate personal relationship with the applicant. This definition is intended to cover less formally recognised relationships such as marriage and cohabitation, however the Law Society of Scotland has expressed a concern that it could prove problematic due to its subjectivity and without a reference to length of relationship.
Lesley Dowdalls, a member of the Family Law Committee who gave evidence to the Justice Committee in October last year said: "We welcome the passing of this Bill at stage 3. This is an important measure which underlines the fact that domestic abuse should not be tolerated in our society by increasing the protections which are available for victims. Nevertheless, we continue to have some reservations about whether the legislation will give rise to problems of interpretation and we recommend that once implemented the legislation is subject to review to ensure that it does not cause the courts and practitioners undue difficulty."
