A Digital Assets Bill for Scotland
Location:
Old College
Date/time
Fri 23 May 2025
14:00 - 18:00
The First Minister’s Programme for Government, announced on 6 May, included a commitment to introduce a Digital Assets Bill in the 2025-26 Scottish Parliamentary year. This commitment follows a public consultation on the status of digital assets in Scots private law.
The Edinburgh Centre for Private Law is hosting a symposium on 23 May to discuss the content of the public consultation. It will focus on the topics that have proved most uncertain among consultees or where the implications of recognising the property status of digital assets remain unclear. These include the notion of digital assets having an “independent existence”; their categorisation in the law of property; and their relationship with the law of diligence and insolvency.
Speakers
- The Right Hon Lord Hodge, Deputy President of the Supreme Court
- Professor David Fox, Edinburgh Law School
- Professor Burkhard Schafer, Edinburgh Law School
- Dr Morshed Mannan, Edinburgh Law School
- Dr Alasdair Peterson, Edinburgh Law School
- Professor Donna McKenzie-Skene, School of Law, University of Aberdeen
- Dr Alisdair MacPherson, School of Law, University of Aberdeen
Image credit: Freepik
Part I
14:00 Introduction from the Chair
Professor Burcu Yüksel Ripley, School of Law, University of Aberdeen
14:10 Opening remarks
The Right Hon Lord Hodge, Deputy President of the Supreme Court and Chair of the Expert Reference Group on Digital Assets in Scots Private Law
14:30 Next steps in the proposal for a Digital Assets Bill
Representatives from the Scottish Government
14:45 The “independent existence” of digital assets
Dr Morshed Mannan, Dr Alasdair Peterson and Professor Burkhard Schafer, Edinburgh Law School, University of Edinburgh
15:20 The categorisation of digital assets in property law: corporeal or incorporeal; things or rights?
Professor David Fox, Edinburgh Law School, University of Edinburgh
15:45 Discussion
16:15 Break
Part II
16:30 Introduction from the Chair
Dr Susanna Macdonald-Mulvihill, Edinburgh Law School, University of Edinburgh
16:35 Digital assets in the law of diligence and insolvency
Professor Donna McKenzie-Skene and Dr Alisdair MacPherson, School of Law, University of Aberdeen
17:10 Discussion and opportunity to raise other questions about the proposal