Scots Law

Scots law is the Scottish law system, it is grounded in the unwritten but widely accepted common laws. In essence it is also based on Roman law, although its greatest influences are the Scottish common laws, which were in place much before the advent of the Scots Law. Some aspects adopted in Scots law date back to the “Corpus Juris Civilis” which was issued in 529 by the order of Justinian I, Byzantine Emperor.

In the present day Scots law does not play as prominent a role as it did before the Act of Union. The time of the Act of Union saw a heavy assimilation of both Scots law and its English counterpart. One reason for this assimilation of Scots Law was because the laws of Scotland often relied on the statues applicable in England. Another reason fro the assimilation came from text writers of the time, who after the Act of Union began to treat English and Scots Law together, thus influencing those who learnt from their textbooks.

Currently there are a number of areas in Scots law that are shared with England. As an example these include driving laws, consumer laws and many mercantile laws.

Although in the present day there are many similarities between English law and Scots law, there are also still some distinctions. One such major difference is a third option given to judges and jurors in deciding verdicts, under Scots law they can also choose “not proven” along side the usual “guilty” and “not guilty”. In other cases, Scots law is only dissimilar in its terminology although concepts are still the same, for example in Scots law “arbitrators” are called “arbiters”.