Admonition (or "being admonished") is the lightest

punishment Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a response and deterrent to a particular acti ...

under

Scots law Scots law () is the legal system of Scotland. It is a hybrid or mixed legal system containing civil law and common law elements, that traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. Together with English law and Northern Ireland l ...

. It occurs when an offender who has been found guilty or who has pleaded guilty, is not given a

fine Fine may refer to: Characters * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (penalty), money to be paid as punishment for an offe ...

, but instead receives a lesser penalty in the form of a verbal warning (admonished), due to a minor infringement of the law; the conviction is still recorded. It is usually the result of either the strict application of law where no real wrong has been caused or where other circumstances (e.g. being detained, attending

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

) make further punishment unjust in the circumstances specific to the case involved. This disposition is comparable to an absolute discharge in jurisdictions where an absolute discharge involves the recording of a conviction (''i.e.'', where the "discharge" is from punishment only) but stands in contrast to an absolute discharge in jurisdictions in which an absolute discharge does not involve the recording of a conviction as is the case in Scotland under summary procedure (''i.e.'', where the "discharge" is from conviction as well) Under the

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (c.53) of the UK Parliament enables some criminal convictions to be ignored after a rehabilitation period. Its purpose is that people do not have a lifelong blot on their records because of a relatively m ...

there is no disclosure period in respect of admonition and it is considered to be spent immediately.

Religious admonition

In the Reformed churches, admonition was a formal procedure in

church discipline Church discipline is the practice of church members calling upon an individual within the Church to repent for their sins. Church discipline is performed when one has sinned or gone against the rules of the church. Church discipline is practiced wi ...

for the correction of members of the congregation who had deviated from the doctrine or conduct of the church. In dealing with serial offenders it opened the way to excommunication.'Chapter V: The fourth Instruction', in R. Resbury, ''The Tabernacle of God with Men, or, The Visible Church Reformed'' (London 1649)
pp. 71 ff
(Google).

References

* Scots law legal terminology Scottish criminal law Sentencing (law) {{Scotland-law-stub