Scotland joined England to form the U.K. by the Act of Union of 1707. However, Scotland had a long-standing legal tradition at the time, and the Act of Union expressly preserved the existing Scottish courts and legal system. As a result, Scotland has continuously formed a separate legal jurisdiction with its own courts. In general, the Scottish legal system is a hybrid, combining elements of the common law tradition with elements of the Roman law tradition, imported via Dutch and French legal influence. The growth of statute law has lessened the differences between English and Scots law, but differences remain, especially in private law and criminal law. Devolution has reinvigorated the distinct identity of the Scottish legal system by introducing a Scottish Parliament with jurisdiction to enact statutes in many important subject areas.
For background information on Scots law, consult the Laws of Scotland: Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia, reissue edition (Edinburgh: Butterworth's, 1999 -) (KDC150 .L382 1999), kept up to date with cumulative booklets.
The classic exposition of Scots law is Stair's The Institutions of the law of Scotland (1681). The Library has a reprint edition (KDC330 .S73 1981a), and an 1832 edition is available electronically in HeinOnline's Legal Classics Library.
The modern Scottish court system is represented by the following chart:
The Sheriff Court exercises original jurisdiction in civil and criminal actions. In criminal matters, the High Court of Justiciary may exercise original as well as appellate jurisdiction. In civil matters, the Court of Session may exercise original (Outer House) or appellate (Inner House) jurisdiction. Formerly, the House of Lords exercised appellate jurisdiction over civil cases on appeal from the Court of Session. In 2009 the Supreme Court took over the judicial functions of the House of Lords and the work and the devolution jurisdiction originally vested in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Only devolution questions are appealable from the High Court of Justiciary. There is no appeal on questions involving Scots criminal law.
The following are the most important series of reports included in the Library's collection.
Scots acts prior to 1707 are in the Acts of the Parliament of Scotland 1124-1707, known as the Record Edition. Statutes still in force in 1964 were reprinted by HMSO in the Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, 1424-1707 (KDC76 1424). An earlier edition, published in Edinburgh in 1841, is available in electronic format in the Making of Modern Law, and in the HeinOnline Seldon Society Collection. A partial collection of Scots statutes, 1424-1707 is also available in the Statute Law Database at legislation.gov.uk.
Modern statutes comprise those enacted since the Act of Union. These are of three kinds: statutes enacted by the Westminster Parliament for the entire U.K.; statutes enacted by the Westminster Parliament for Scotland only; and statutes enacted by the Scottish Parliament.
Statutes enacted for the entire U.K. are published in sources discussed in the separate research guide, Researching the Law of Great Britain.
Statutes applicable to Scotland only are published in several sources: Scots Statutes Revised 1707-1900 (Edinburgh: Green, 1899-1902) (KDC78 1707), The Scots Statutes 1901-1949 (Edinburgh: Green, 1901-1949) (KDC80 .S36); and Scottish Current Law Statutes Annotted 1950-1990 (KDC80 .S38), a publication much like Current Law Statutes Annotated (discussed in Researching the Law of Great Britain), and in fact merged into it, 1991 -.
Statutes enacted by the Scottish Parliament, 1999 -, are available in the Statute Law Database at legislation.gov.uk, BAILII, and in Lexis.com. The latter two also include regulations.
Documentation of the activities of the Scottish Parliament is available from the Parliament web site. Documents include the Official Report, a verbatim record of debate on bills, ministerial statements, question time, First Minister's question time, committee inquiries and hearings; complete committee documentation; current and previous bills.
The Scottish Law Commission is responsible for making proposals for statute law reform, such as consolidation statutes and statutory repeals. The publications of the Law Commission, including Discussion Papers and Conslutative Memoranda, Consultation Papers, and Annual Reports, are available from the SLC web site, and selectively from BAILII.
The most important moder series of case reports include the following:
In addition to the above, BAILII includes High Court of Justiciary Cases, Session Cases, and Sheriff Court decisions, 1998 -. Lexis.com contains Scottish Criminal Case Reports (1981 -) and Scottish Civil Law Reports (1986 -).
There are several printed research guides to Scots law, inlcuding:
There are also several electronic research guides available, including: