Aberdeen University politics Professor Michael Keating believes forcing Scotland out of the European Union will cause so many problems that politicians will find a way to overcome any technical or legal difficulties over membership.
At the start of the current independence debate, the two sides were polarised on the question of whether an independent Scotland would get into the European Union (EU).
Yes supporters argued that Scotland would remain in automatically, while their opponents suggested that it would be left out.
These positions have been modified as the campaign has gone on.
The Scottish Government now accepts that the UK would be the “successor state”, so that Scotland would have to apply for EU membership.
They indicate two routes, under articles 48 and 49 of the European treaties.
Under Article 49, they would apply in the normal way, but could be assured rapid progress since Scotland already meets the entry criteria.
Under Article 48, there would be a treaty change to add Scotland as a 29th member state.
Legal arguments do not get us far.
Some lawyers have argued that Scotland would be legally outside the EU at the moment of independence and that the treaties do not provide for membership for a seceding territory.
This is true, but neither do they deny it; they are silent so that a new solution would have to be found.
Jean Claude Piris, from the Commission, has argued against the treaty amendment and in favour of the accession process as “legally correct”, but member states can amend the treaties in any way they like, as long as it is consistent with procedure.
In practice, European leaders do not normally look to law to tell them what to do.
They decide what they want to do politically and then find a legal means.
It is likely that no member state, including the remaining UK, would have an interest in excluding Scotland and so creating a hole in the internal market and massive disruption to business and citizens.
Europe is currently engulfed by the economic crisis, the problems of the Eurozone and the turbulence on its frontiers in Ukraine.
It is difficult to see why either the European institutions or the member states would want to add to their troubles by seeking to exclude Scotland, disrupting the internal market and discrediting an eminently democratic means of resolving a self-determination dispute.
Keeping Scotland in the EU, under either Article 48 or 49, might be complicated but pales beside the challenges of disentangling Scotland to get it out.
Forcing it out of the single market, only to allow it back in again, is the sort of challenge member states can really do without.
So it is likely that Europe and the member states will seek continuity in the internal market as well as in citizenship rights.
This could be done through declaratory legislation while detailed negotiations on the terms of membership were taking place.