Scottish Court Dismisses Case on Independence Referendum

(Bloomberg) -- A Scottish independence campaigner said his legal case seeking to establish that the country has the power to hold another referendum without the consent of the U.K. government was dismissed by a court.

The Court of Session in Edinburgh upheld a previous decision that any ruling would be hypothetical because there’s no existing legislation for such a vote, Martin Keatings, who brought the crowd-funded case, said on Friday. The legal action wasn’t backed by the Scottish government in Edinburgh, which is run by the pro-independence Scottish National Party.

In its ruling on the appeal published on Friday, the court said the judge in the case was “correct in dismissing the action on the basis that the declarators sought were abstract, hypothetical, premature and/or academic.” It said the “the rule of law did not require a determination.”

An election in Scotland on May 6 is being framed as a vote on whether the country should hold another referendum, with polls showing the SNP is on course for victory. That would heighten the tension with London over the issue, and the U.K.’s constitutional future.

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