Courts of Scotland

Scotland was a distinct kingdom ruled by the MacAlpin clan in the early tenth century without defined boarders. Without defined boarders relations with England were very uneasy, although after 1066 Norman kings intervened periodically to help support the claims of the Scottish against them. In 1291 Edward I of England selected John Balliol to take the Scottish throne which had been empty since 1286, in return Balliol paid homage to Edward I as a vassal. In 1295 Scottish nobles signed a treaty with France which resulted in the Auld Alliance. As a result of this Edward I invaded Scotland in 1296, Balliol surrendered and imprisoned. From this Scotland was put under English rule, this caused uprisings in Scotland mostly lead by Andrew Murry and…

In 1707 the Acts of Union were approved by the Westminster Parliament and by the Parliament of Scotland. With the Acts of Union, England and Scotland were declared united ‘by the Name of Great Britain’. Scots law is a legal system which includes elements of civil law and common law. Scots law is based on several sources of law: the legislation or statute law, a written enactment of legal rules passed by the Parliament; the common law: judicial precedent, institutional writings and custom.…

James's aim was not to govern either England or Scotland separately but to join them in a perfect union. However a completely united nation was James' dream only. As soon as he proposed the idea in the very first meeting of Parliament in 1604, he was faced with a strong opposition from both Scotland and England. James is often presented as trying to force the idea of a union of Britain upon Scottish and English alike when in reality he asked firstly for a commission who would discuss the idea…

800 children in Scotland were found to be needing protection from some form of abuse. The named person scheme aims to prevent this. The Scottish government says that a named person will be someone who will be there for parents and their children when they need help and do not know where to go. A named person will usually be a health visitor for a pre-school child and a head teacher or guidance teacher for a child of school age. The scheme was created with the aim of overseeing the welfare and…

The Scottish Executive set up the Homelessness Task Force in 1999, members were drawn from the Executive, Housing Associations, Health Boards, Social Work, Department of Work and Pensions, Academics and others with an interest in housing, such as Shelter and The Scottish Council on Single Homeless. They were “to review the causes and nature of homelessness in Scotland; to examine current practise in dealing with cases of homelessness in Scotland; and to make recommendations on how homelessness…

rules and makes all political decisions. In a monarchy, the King or Queen is the head of State. Its role is to undertake State duties, to give to the country a sense of stability and persistence, opening each new session of Parliament and approving order through the Privy Council. The Central Government also transfers power to regional organisations. This process is called devolution. Therefore, a devolved parliament is a recommended system that would give separate decision making-powers to…

The Scotland Act 1998 was responsible for the devolution of significant areas of civil law such as family law, planning law and bankruptcy law to Holyrood. The administrative workings of the Scottish legal systems are far removed from that from the rest of the UK. This includes the structures of the courts, court procedures and the funding of legal aid. (Scottish Parliament Information Centre, 2014). In Scotland, there are 3 main types of civil courts, namely, the Sheriff Courts, Court of…

What is the Current Scottish Legal Aid Policy? Legal aid in Scotland is the responsibility of the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB), an institutional body created by the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 (Scottish Legal Aid Board, 2016). The actions of SLAB are consistent and stable but the Scottish government decides the aims of legal aid policy and the Scottish Parliament can implement legislative changes to the policy (Edinburgh & Scottish Legal Aid Board, 2016). The Scottish Legal Aid Board…

firstly a letter before proceedings which the local authorities send before court proceedings when they are worried about the care a child is receiving, this letter is usually the last notice for the Childs parents that if they do not follow instructions then the child can be taken into care. The next step in proceedings is the pre-proceedings meeting, this is what the letter that you have been previously sent will tell you that you need to attend, at this meeting you will talk about the…

The development of these settlements changed the original custom of Viking activity, in other words, it ended the traditional explanation of invasion and looting in the Viking period in the Britain Isles (Hall 1990, 22). The Vikings made a great contribution in the expansion of the European territory, re-molding the political structure, the establishment of a powerful country, and stimulate business and encourage the development of cities and towns (Owen 1999, 7). In many places of England and…