 Fraser applied to the High Court for leave to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on the grounds that his case involved a devolution issue, namely that his prosecution and conviction had infringed his rights under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.His application was refused as incompetent by the Appeal Court on 24 March 2009, on the grounds that the issues had already been determined in the earlier appeal proceedings and that Parliament had not intended, in the Scotland Act 1998, to allow the Privy Council to review the merits of decisions of the Appeal Court.Fraser then applied for special leave to appeal to the Privy Council directly.