Editing Orkney (section)

===Administrative history===
On its absorption into Scotland in 1472, the landholdings and jurisdictions of the old earldom of Orkney passed to the Scottish crown. The separate lordship of Shetland was absorbed into Scotland at the same time.<ref name=Crawford/> More typically Scottish forms of administration were gradually introduced to the Northern Isles. The position of [[Sheriff of Orkney and Shetland]] was created in 1541.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Anderson |first1=Peter |title=Earl William to Earl Patrick: A Survey of the History of Orkney and Shetland from 1468 to 1615 |url=https://www.ssns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/13_Anderson_ShetlandNL_1996_pp_174-185.pdf |website=Scottish Society for Northern Studies |pages=178 |date=1996}}</ref> Orkney and Shetland retained their own legal systems until 1612, when the general laws of Scotland were applied.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moodie Heddle |first1=J. G. F. |last2=Mainland |first2=T. |title=Orkney and Shetland |date=1920 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |page=2 |isbn=978-1-107-64616-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YSF2_tCOkyIC&dq=shetland&pg=PA2 |access-date=8 October 2024}}</ref>

[[Commissioners of Supply]] were established in 1667 for each shire across Scotland. Unusually, despite being one [[Shires of Scotland|shire]], Orkney and Shetland were given separate bodies of commissioners.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Keith |title=Act of the convention of estates of the kingdom of Scotland etc. for a new and voluntary offer to his majesty of £72,000 monthly for the space of twelve months, 23 January 1667 |url=http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1667/1/10 |website=Records of the Parliament of Scotland |publisher=University of St Andrews |access-date=25 February 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Journals of the House of Commons |date=1809 |publisher=His Majesty's Stationery Office |location=London |pages=49–50 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aRlDAAAAcAAJ&dq=%22orkney%20and%20zetland%22%20%22commissioners%20of%20supply%22&pg=PA50 |access-date=8 October 2024}}</ref> More local government functions were gradually given to the commissioners over time.<ref>{{cite web |title=Scottish Counties and Parishes: their history and boundaries on maps |url=https://maps.nls.uk/geo/boundaries/history.html |website=National Library of Scotland |access-date=2 September 2024}}</ref> At a court case in 1829, the [[Court of Session]] declined to rule on whether Orkney and Shetland were one county or two. They operated as one county for the purposes of the administration of justice, [[Lord Lieutenant of Orkney and Shetland|lieutenancy]], and [[Orkney and Shetland (Parliament of Scotland constituency)|parliamentary constituencies]], but operated as two counties for local government functions.<ref>{{cite book |title=Cases decided in the Court of Session: Volume 7 |date=1829 |publisher=Bell and Bradfute |page=867 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=76kDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA867 |access-date=8 October 2024}}</ref> Elected county councils were created in 1890 under the [[Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889]], taking most of the functions of the commissioners (which were eventually abolished in 1930). The 1889 Act also directed that Orkney and Shetland were to be separate counties.<ref>{{cite web |title=Local government legislation - County and Parishes viewer - National Library of Scotland |url=https://maps.nls.uk/geo/boundaries/legislation.html |website=maps.nls.uk |access-date=7 July 2024}}</ref>

[[File:The Court House, Kirkwall - geograph.org.uk - 953071.jpg|thumb|[[Kirkwall Sheriff Court]], completed 1877: Orkney's main courthouse, also served as headquarters of Orkney County Council 1890–1975]]
Orkney County Council held its first meeting on 22 May 1890 at [[Kirkwall Sheriff Court]], also known as County Buildings, on Watergate in Kirkwall, which had been completed in 1877 and also served as the meeting place of the commissioners of supply.<ref>{{Historic Environment Scotland|num= LB46010|desc= Kirkwall Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court and former Prison/Police Station, including boundary walls, gatepiers and railings, and excluding flat-roofed garage addition to south, Watergate, Kirkwall |access-date=11 December 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=County Council |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/search-newspapers |access-date=8 October 2024 |work=Orkney Herald |date=28 May 1890 |location=Kirkwall |pages=7–8}}</ref>

Local government was reformed in 1975 under the [[Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973]], which replaced Scotland's counties, [[burgh]]s and [[landward district]]s. In most of Scotland a two-tier structure of upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts was used, but a single-tier structure of [[Islands council areas of Scotland|island areas]] was used for Orkney, Shetland and the [[Western Isles]].<ref name=1973act>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973|year=1973|chapter=65|accessdate=17 April 2023}}</ref> Further local government reform in 1996 introduced single-tier council areas across all of Scotland. The councils of the three island areas created in 1975 continued to provide the same services after 1996, but their areas were re-designated as council areas.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994|year=1994|chapter=39|accessdate=17 April 2023}}</ref>