Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008
Act of the Scottish Parliament
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008 (asp 6) is an act of the Scottish Parliament passed in October 2008 to reform the courts of Scotland, to give statutory force to judicial independence, and to establish the Lord President of the Court of Session as Head of the Judiciary of Scotland.
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| Act of the Scottish Parliament | |||||||||
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| Long title | An Act of the Scottish Parliament to make provision about the judiciary and the courts; to establish the Scottish Court Service; and for connected purposes. | ||||||||
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| Citation | 2008 asp 6 | ||||||||
| Introduced by | Kenny MacAskill | ||||||||
| Territorial extent | Scotland | ||||||||
| Dates | |||||||||
| Royal assent | 29 October 2008 | ||||||||
| Repealed | various[b] | ||||||||
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Status: Amended | |||||||||
| History of passage through the Parliament | |||||||||
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |||||||||
| Revised text of statute as amended | |||||||||
| Text of the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. | |||||||||
Provisions
Scottish Court Service
The act established the Scottish Court Service, bringing together all the courts from the appeal court to the lowest district court.[1]
Head of the judiciary
The responsibility for the administration of the court service was transferred to the Lord President by the act.[2][3] The act enshrined the Lord President as the head of the judiciary.[4]
Judicial independence
Judicial independence is enshrined by section 1 of the act, which stipulates specific duties to uphold judicial independence on[5]: Section 1
- The First Minister of Scotland
- The Lord Advocate
- The Scottish Ministers
- Members of the Scottish Parliament
- and others "with responsibility for matters relating to the judiciary or the administration of justice" in Scotland
All of those specified are barred from using any form of special access to influence the judgments or decisions made by the judiciary of Scotland.[6]