for the time being: Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998 excludes from the competence of the Parliament some important areas affecting private law, such as the law of busines associations, their insolvency, competition, intellectual property and consumer protection The possibility of going further than reform and codify ing the law was specificall recognised in a provision of the original Scotland Bill which has not survived in the final Act.48 Nevertheless, there is certainly interest in this, albeit far from universal, in Scotland, 49 and Schedule 4 paragraph 7 of the Scotland Act allows for the possibility of an Act of the Scottish Parliament to the law. The Scottish Law Commission already has a statutory duty to consider the codification of the law.50 Much of its work has tended in this direction, although it is clear that a civil code, or cod ification of particular parts of the law, is not at present a priority. 51 Nevertheless, the work of the Commission, the completion of the 26-volume Laws of Scotland: Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia, and a massive growth in research and writing on Scots law, mean that much of the basic research on the current position of the law has been done. However, the Members of the Scottish Parliament will be pursuing political agenda rather than those of reformers of private law as such, and a codification project may lack the voter appeal to commend it as a legislative priority An alternative possibility is a private initiative along the lines of the Lando commission, producing what would be in effect restatement of Scots private law which would test the feasibility of a code, offer a model up for substantive criticism and development, and, in whole or in part, provide material which, if found acceptable, could in due course be enacted by the Scottish Parliament. 52 It might even be best left outside positive law, as a restatement would be more capable of adjustment over time and would avoid the rigid ity and inflexibility associated with formal codes Another benefit which such a restatement could bring, enacted or not, is to make Scots law more accessible to comparative study. As a system based on a jumble of statute and judicial decision, and in which textbook writing has focused principally on a domestic audience, Scots law has not leant itself to study by outsiders, nor has it been easy for insiders to broadcast its merits beyond the jurisdiction. That a code can change this picture is well demonstrated by the European attention attracted to a draft codification of the Scots law of unjustified enrichment compiled by Dr Eric Clive of the Scottish Law Commission in a private capacity and published by the Commission in 1996.53 Presenting other areas of 48Scotland Bill, clause 28(9) 49See in particular E M Clive, 'A Scottish civil code, in H L MacQueen(ed), Scots Law into the 21st Century (Edinburgh, 1996), pp 82-91. Contrast however in the same volume A D M Forte, ' lf it aint broke, dont fix it on not codifying commercial law, pp. 92-102 5OLaw Commissions Act 1965, s 3(1) 5IWWMcBryde, Law reform: the Scottish experience,( 1998)3 Scottish Law and Practice Quarterly, 86-100, atpp.90-93 5 Such an init ia tive is currently planned at the University of Edinburgh, under the guidance of Dr Eric Clive 53The draft code appears as an appendix to Scottish Law Commission Discussion Paper No 99, Judicial Abolition of the Error of Law Rule and its Aftermath(February 1996). The text may also be consulted in F D Rose(ed), Blackstone's Statutes on Contract, Tort and Restitution 1997-8(London, 1997)pp. 444-51, or, in ar abbreviated version, in E M Clive, Restitution and unjustified enrichment, in A S Hartkampet al(eds), Towards a European CivilCode, 2nd ed Dordrecht, London and Boston, 1998), pp. 383-96for the time being: Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998 excludes from the competence of the Parliament some important areas affecting private law, such as the law of business associations, their insolvency, competition, intellectual property and consumer protection. The possibility of going further than reform and codifying the law was specifically recognised in a provision of the original Scotland Bill which has not survived in the final Act.48 Nevertheless, there is certainly interest in this, albeit far from universal, in Scotland,49 and Schedule 4 paragraph 7 of the Scotland Act allows for the possibility of an Act of the Scottish Parliament to ‘restate’ the law. The Scottish Law Commission already has a statutory duty to consider the codification of the law.50 Much of its work has tended in this direction, although it is clear that a civil code, or codification of particular parts of the law, is not at present a priority.51 Nevertheless, the work of the Commission, the completion of the 26-volume Laws of Scotland: Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia, and a massive growth in research and writing on Scots law, mean that much of the basic research on the current position of the law has been done. However, the Members of the Scottish Parliament will be pursuing political agenda rather than those of reformers of private law as such, and a codification project may lack the voter appeal to commend it as a legislative priority. An alternative possibility is a private initiative along the lines of the Lando Commission, producing what would be in effect a ‘restatement’ of Scots private law which would test the feasibility of a code, offer a model up for substantive criticism and development, and, in whole or in part, provide material which, if found acceptable, could in due course be enacted by the Scottish Parliament.52 It might even be best left outside positive law, as a restatement would be more capable of adjustment over time and would avoid the rigidity and inflexibility associated with formal codes. Another benefit which such a restatement could bring, enacted or not, is to make Scots law more accessible to comparative study. As a system based on a jumble of statute and judicial decision, and in which textbook writing has focused principally on a domestic audience, Scots law has not leant itself to study by outsiders, nor has it been easy for insiders to broadcast its merits beyond the jurisdiction. That a code can change this picture is well demonstrated by the European attention attracted to a draft codification of the Scots law of unjustified enrichment compiled by Dr Eric Clive of the Scottish Law Commission in a private capacity and published by the Commission in 1996.53 Presenting other areas of 48Scotland Bill, clause 28(9). 49See in particular E M Clive, ‘A Scottish civil code’, in H L MacQueen (ed), Scots Law into the 21st Century (Edinburgh, 1996), pp. 82-91. Contrast however in the same volume A D M Forte, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it: on not codifying commercial law’, pp. 92-102. 50Law Commissions Act 1965, s 3(1). 51W W McBryde, ‘Law reform: the Scottish experience’, (1998) 3 Scottish Law and Practice Quarterly, 86-100, at pp. 90-93. 52Such an initiative is currently planned at the University of Edinburgh, under the guidance of Dr Eric Clive. 53The draft code appears as an appendix to Scottish Law Commission Discussion Paper No 99, Judicial Abolition of the Error of Law Rule and its Aftermath (February 1996). The text may also be consulted in F D Rose (ed), Blackstone’s Statutes on Contract, Tort and Restitution 1997-8 (London, 1997) pp. 444-51, or, in an abbreviated version, in E M Clive, ‘Restitution and unjustified enrichment’, in A S Hartkamp et al (eds), Towards a European Civil Code, 2nd ed (Dordrecht, London and Boston, 1998), pp. 383-96