Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008

The Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008 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.

Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008

Act of Parliament
Scottish Parliament
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.
Citation	2008 asp 6
Introduced by	Kenny MacAskill
Territorial extent	Scotland
Dates
Royal assent	29 October 2008
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Text of statute as originally enacted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.

History

Provisions

Judicial independence

Judicial independence is enshrined by Section 1 of the Act, which stipulates specific duties to uphold judicial independence on:

• 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;^{[1]: Section 1}

All of those specified are barred from using any form of special access to influence the judgements or decisions made by the judiciary of Scotland.^[2]