Martin Stephen James Goldstraw of Whitecairns

OPINION OF LORD UIST
 

in the Petition of

 

PROFESSOR THE MUCH HONOURED STEPHEN

PENDARIES KERR OF ARDGOWAN, BARON OF ARDGOWAN,

MARTIN STEPHEN JAMES GOLDSTRAW OF WHITECAIRNS

&

EUR ING DAVID AYRE OF KILMARNOCK, BARON OF KILMARNOCK

for

  Judicial review of a decision of the Lord Lyon King of Arms

Extract:

[42] If, as I accept, a person is entitled to call himself by whatever name he chooses, and the jurisdiction of Lyon is limited to giving official recognition to change of name which has already taken place, as opposed to authorising a change of name in advance of the name being changed, it seems to me that (apart from a limited discretion in the case of capricious names) Lyon has no jurisdiction to impose a restriction on a change of name which he has been asked to recognise. In particular, he has no power to require, in the case of a territorial designation, that there be a substantial nexus between the applicant and the lands in question ( a nexus which is not satisfied by the ownership of a bare superiority). I can well understand why Lyon did not wish to recognise the petitioner's change of name in this case. It is obvious that Lyon felt that the petitioner was engaging in some kind of ruse by purchasing a superiority in the knowledge that superiorities were about to be abolished and that he therefore was not genuine in his assumption of a territorial designation. Even if that be so, in my opinion Lyon had no lawful power to refuse to recognise the new name which the petitioner had taken and his refusal to recognise it cannot stand.

The Full opinion can be found here.