Editing Law of the United Kingdom (section)

===Scottish Parliament===
{{Main|Scottish Parliament}}
[[Image:ScottishParliamentFront.JPG|thumb|right|The public entrance of the distinctive Scottish Parliament building, opened in October 2004]]
The Scottish Parliament ({{langx|gd|Pàrlamaid na h-Alba}}; [[Scots language|Scots]]: ''Scots Pairlament'') is located in the [[Holyrood, Edinburgh|Holyrood]] area of the capital [[Edinburgh]]. The Parliament, which is informally referred to as "Holyrood"<ref name="HolyroodName">{{cite web|url=http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/education/resources/teachingResources/wordBank.htm |title=Scottish Parliament Word Bank |publisher=Scottish Parliament |access-date=14 November 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051203012812/http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/education/resources/teachingResources/wordBank.htm |archive-date= 3 December 2005 }}</ref> (cf. "[[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Westminster]]"), is a democratically elected body of 129 members who are known as [[Members of the Scottish Parliament]] or MSPs. Members are elected for four-year terms under the [[Additional Member System]] of [[proportional representation]].<ref name="ConstituencyMSPs"/>

73 MSPs represent individual geographical [[Scottish Parliament constituencies|constituencies]] elected by the [[plurality voting system]] ("first past the post"). A further 56 are returned from eight [[Additional member system (Scottish Parliament)|additional member]] regions, each electing seven MSPs.<ref name="ConstituencyMSPs">{{cite web |url=http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msp/index.htm |title=Scottish Parliament MSPs |publisher=Scottish Parliament |access-date=14 November 2006}}</ref> The Scottish Parliament, as it was created by devolution and an act of parliament, does not get its legislative powers by virtue of sovereignty or by virtue of 'being the Scottish Parliament'. It legally exists as a subset of Westminster and derives its powers as such.

The original [[Parliament of Scotland]] (or "Estates of Scotland") was the national legislature of the independent [[Kingdom of Scotland]] and existed from the early thirteenth century until the Kingdom of Scotland merged with the [[Kingdom of England]] under the [[Acts of Union 1707]] to form the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]].<ref name="HistoricalConnection">{{cite web |url=http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/history/firstscottishparliament/index.htm |title=The First Scottish Parliament: the Middle Ages – 1707 |publisher=Scottish Parliament |access-date=14 November 2006}}</ref> As a consequence, the Parliament of Scotland merged with the [[Parliament of England]], to form the [[Parliament of Great Britain]], which sat at Westminster in London.<ref name="HistoricalConnection" />