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Edinburgh
Saturday 5 November 1994
On the 5th November 1994, a special event took place Parliament House in Edinburgh organised by the Scottish
Committee of the Franco British Lawyers Society and the University of Edinburgh. Two mock trials were held, one by
French lawyers using their own criminal procedure and the other by Scottish lawyers under Scots Law.
The same facts were given to the French and Scottish teams : the murder of the bridegroom, by a former boyfriend of
the bride, in a car park of the hotel during the wedding reception.
The scripts have been written by experienced criminal lawyers and were interpreted by leading members of the
profession.
It is fascinating to note that the French Court, led by Madame Ezratty and the Scottish Court with Lord Prosser
presiding, reached similar conclusions and quite independently gave out remarkably similar sentences. However, the
procedures involved in these final hearings, or trial, were radically different and there is no better way to observe this
than by watching the videos.
After the verdicts were given, discussion groups analysed and gave a commentary on the pre-trial proceedings and on
the trials themselves. A summary of these discussions are also included in the book.
The mock trials were filmed by an outside broadcast truck incorporating five cameras with vision and audio mixing.
They have been produced to the highest professional standard.
The two videos are in English and a complete version of the script is provided. This makes the set an useful tool for
lawyers and for linguists.
French mock trial (in English) : 69 minutes
presided over by Madame Myriam Ezratty
Premier Président de la Cour d’Appel de Paris
Scottish Mock trial (in English) : 55 minutes
presided over by The Hon. Lord Prosser
Senator of the College of Justice in Scotland and Lord of Session
Accompanying book : 67 pages
Text for the French Mock trial : 25 pages
Text for the Scottish Mock trial : 28 pages
Discussion Group summary :
Pre-trial procedure by Sheriff Sheehan : 6 pages
Trial/ final hearing by Joëlle Godard : 5 pages