Editing Law of the United Kingdom (section)

=== Scotland ===
{{Main|Scots law}}

[[File:Parliament Square, Edinburgh facing east.jpg|thumb|[[Parliament House, Edinburgh|Parliament House]] in [[Edinburgh]] is the seat of the [[Supreme Courts of Scotland]].]]

Scots law is a unique legal system with an ancient basis in [[Roman law]]. Grounded in [[uncodified]] [[Civil law (legal system)|civil law]] dating back to the ''[[Corpus Juris Civilis]]'', it also features elements of [[common law]] with [[Legal institutions of Scotland in the High Middle Ages|medieval]] sources. Thus [[Scotland]] has a [[Legal pluralism|pluralistic]], or 'mixed', legal system, comparable to that of [[Law of South Africa|South Africa]], and, to a lesser degree, the partly [[Legal code|codified]] pluralistic systems of [[Louisiana#Law and government|Louisiana]] and [[Law of Quebec|Quebec]].

Upon the formation of the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] under the 1707 [[Acts of Union 1707|Acts of Union]], Scots law shared a legislature with [[England and Wales]]. While each retained fundamentally different legal systems, the 1707 Union brought English and Welsh influence upon Scots law, and vice versa. Since the [[accession of the United Kingdom to the European Communities]] in 1973, Scots law has been affected by [[European law]] under the [[Treaty of Rome]]. The establishment of the [[Scottish Parliament]] and creation of the [[Scottish Government]] in 1999, which legislates on all matters within domestic [[Reserved matters (Westminster)#Scotland|areas of legislative competence]], has created a further major source of Scots law.

Under the [[UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2020]] following the [[withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union]] in 2020<ref>{{cite news |title= MSPs pass Brexit bill to 'keep pace' with EU laws|url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-55396311 |access-date=26 December 2020 |work=BBC News |date=23 December 2020}}</ref> it is required that devolved Scots law has to stay in alignment with future [[EU law]] despite the virtue of no longer being a [[Member state of the European Union|member state]].

The chief courts are the [[Court of Session]], for civil cases,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/session/index.asp|title=Court of Session – Introduction |publisher=Scottish Courts|access-date=5 October 2008}}</ref> and the [[High Court of Justiciary]], for criminal cases.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/justiciary/index.asp|title=High Court of Justiciary – Introduction |publisher=Scottish Courts|access-date=5 October 2008}}</ref> The [[Supreme Court of the United Kingdom]] serves as the highest court of appeal for civil cases under Scots law, with leave to appeal from the Court of Session not required as a general rule.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199697/ldinfo/ld08judg/bluebook/bluebk03.htm|title=House of Lords – Practice Directions on Permission to Appeal|publisher=UK Parliament|access-date=22 June 2009}}</ref> However, unlike in the rest of the United Kingdom, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has no role as the highest court of appeal for Scottish criminal cases: this is forbidden by Article XIX of the [[Treaty of Union]] between Scotland and England.<ref name="Introduction">{{cite web|url=http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/introduction.asp|title=Introduction|publisher=Scottish Courts|access-date=5 October 2008}}</ref>

[[Sheriff court]]s deal with most civil and criminal cases including conducting criminal [[trials]] with a jury, known as sheriff solemn court, or with a sheriff and no jury, known as sheriff summary court. The sheriff courts provide a local court service with 49 sheriff courts organised across six [[sheriffdom]]s.<ref name="Introduction"/> The Scottish legal system is unique in having three possible [[verdict]]s for a criminal trial: "[[guilt (law)|guilty]]", "[[acquittal|not guilty]]" and "[[not proven]]". Both "not guilty" and "not proven" result in an [[acquittal]] with no possibility of [[Trial (law)|retrial]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article431121.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525121435/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article431121.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 May 2010|title=The case for keeping 'not proven' verdict|newspaper=Times Online|access-date=5 October 2008| location=London|date=20 March 2005}}</ref> In very rare circumstances, the [[High Court of Justiciary]] can create new criminal offences without reference to Parliament, using its [[declaratory power]] to do so.

The [[Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs]] is the member of the [[Scottish Government]] responsible for [[Police Scotland]], the [[Courts of Scotland|courts]] and [[Scottish criminal law|criminal justice]], and the [[Scottish Prison Service]], which manages the prisons in Scotland.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/14944/Scottish-Cabinet |title = Scottish Cabinet and Ministers |publisher = [[Scottish Executive]] |access-date = 2008-10-05 |archive-date = 7 September 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080907053528/http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/14944/Scottish-Cabinet |url-status = dead }}</ref>