Scott Crosby: Scotus Europae
| Author | George C. Gebbie |
| Date | 01 March 2021 |
| Published date | 01 March 2021 |
| DOI | 10.1177/2032284420972197 |
| Subject Matter | Analysis/Opinion |
Article
Scott Crosby: Scotus
Europae
George C. Gebbie
Faculty of Advocates, Advocates Library, Parliament Square, Scotland
I first met our late friend and colleague, Scott, at a conference of the European Criminal Bar
Association. As I stood in a large reception hall surrounded by colleagues from across Europe,
quaffing wine and listening to the polyglot hum of conversation, I had imagined myself to be the
only Scots lawyer in the room. My surprise at hearing another clearly Scots accent speaking in
English was deepened into astonishment when I realised that the same voice was flitting effort-
lessly across conversations in at least three different languages. I immediately went over to
introduce myself and was warmly welcomed by Scott, not so much as a fellow compatriot but
rather as a fellow European lawyer.
As I came to know Scott and was invited to get involved in this journal, I came to see him more
and more as a renaissance man and in particular as the latest example of a line of Scottish thinkers
and professionals who have long seen the future that lies in the mainland of Europe with its many
complexities but even more opportunities. For me, he epitomised what I believe to be a trait that is
not exclusively Scottish but is well respected in the land of our birth. In Scotland, that trait is
expressed in the saying that,
‘We are a’ Jock Tamson’s bairns’.
It is the belief that we are all bound by our common humanity. The belief that we should refuse
to uphold the creed of ‘the other’ because the essential truth is that we are all the same. We all share
our Human Rights, but more than that, we all share a Human Obligation to actively do right by our
fellow ‘bairns’.
As lawyers, we know all too well that respect for Human Rights is in alarmingly short supply in
the World today. As individuals, we know even better that the ethic of actively doing right by other
individuals is a much rarer commodity than that. Scott Crosby was the living embodiment of both
those qualities in a lawyer. Scott was committed to the idea that the European Union (EU) should
be there to make people’s lives better. In particular, it should provide as far as possible a way of
improving upon the domestic legal protection available to its citizens, where that fell substantially
short of what a modern and democratic polity should provide.
Corresponding author:
George C. Gebbie, Faculty of Advocates, Advocates Library, Parliament Square, Edinburgh EH1 1RF, Scotland.
E-mail: george.gebbie@advocates.org.uk
New Journal of European Criminal Law
ªThe Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/2032284420972197
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NJECL
NJECL
2021, Vol. 12(1) 88 –92
Analysis/Opinion
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