Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Al Fayed died in the crash

Mohamed Al Fayed's lawyer Richard Keen QC said only a public inquiry would "draw a line" under the accident in Paris on 31 August, 1997.

Mr Al Fayed, who was not at the Court of Session for the second day of his legal battle, is contesting a refusal to hold a public inquiry into the deaths of his son and the Princess of Wales.

Paul Cullen QC said the Scottish authorities were under no obligation to grant a public inquiry.

He, and indeed the public interest, are entitled to finality and that can only be achieved by some effective form of inquiry Richard Keen QC

Mr Keen told the court that it took 30 years to instruct Lord Saville to conduct an inquiry into the Northern Ireland shootings, and 30 hours for Lord Hutton to begin an inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly.

"It has taken the petitioner (Mr Al Fayed) six years to come this far," Mr Keen said.

"He, and indeed the public interest, are entitled to finality and that can only be achieved by some effective form of inquiry."

Mr Al Fayed has alleged that his son and the Princess of Wales were murdered.

'No evidence'

He had called for the Scottish courts to grant a public inquiry into their deaths.

But Scotland's most senior law officer, Colin Boyd QC, rejected that request earlier this year, arguing that the crash happened outside Scottish jurisdiction.

Mr Al Fayed is appealing that decision at the Court of Session on the basis that he is a Scottish resident.

Mr Keen read out the lord advocate's decision from 3 April for the court.

It said: "As these deaths occurred in France, and as there is no evidence to link the circumstances of the deaths to any events in Scotland, the lord advocate is satisfied that it would not be appropriate to instruct the procurator fiscal or police in Scotland to investigate these deaths.

Mohamed Al Fayed is calling for a public inquiry

"In the absence of such investigations, there would be no basis for holding a public inquiry."

But Mr Keen told the court that the French accident inquiry did not "embrace the petitioner's right to an effective investigation into the death".

He claimed Articles 1 and 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights placed an "unprecedented obligation" upon Scottish ministers to grant Mr Al Fayed a public inquiry.

But Mr Cullen, counsel for the Lord Advocate, said the latter was right to reject the call for a public inquiry.

The petitioner's entire case is built on the slender foundation of his own averred residence in Scotland Paul Cullen QC

Mr Cullen said: "It is an important, perhaps even a striking feature of the circumstances of this case, that it has at no time been suggested by, or on behalf of the petitioner, that his son Dodi had any link with Scotland or the UK.

"The petitioner's entire case is built on the slender foundation of his own averred residence in Scotland, and fundamentally it appears to be accepted by the petitioner that there is no connection between Scotland and the death itself."

There have been no inquests in the UK into the death of Dodi and Diana, and Mr Al Fayed has always maintained there has been a conspiracy or cover-up to conceal security services involvement in his son's death.

The French magistrates investigating the deaths said in a report that driver Henri Paul was to blame for the 1997 crash because he was drunk and using anti-depressants.

Mr Al Fayed has tried and failed in his effort to have a public inquiry through the French and English courts.