The Double Jeopardy (Scotland) Act 2011 is an

Act of the Scottish Parliament An Act of the Scottish Parliament ( gd, Achd Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) is primary legislation made by the Scottish Parliament. The power to create Acts was conferred to the Parliament by section 28 of the Scotland Act 1998 following the successfu ...

which received

Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...

on 27 April 2011. and came into force on 28 November 2011. The Act creates a statutory basis for the rule against trying a person twice for the same crime (known as

double jeopardy In jurisprudence, double jeopardy is a procedural defence (primarily in common law jurisdictions) that prevents an accused person from being tried again on the same (or similar) charges following an acquittal or conviction and in rare case ...

). The Act also creates three narrow exceptions to this rule. Following the acquittal of Angus Sinclair for the

World's End Murders The World's End Murders is the colloquial name given to the murder of two girls, Christine Eadie, 17, and Helen Scott, 17, in Edinburgh, in October 1977. The case is so named because both victims were last seen alive leaving The World's End pub ...

in 2007, on 20 November 2007 the then

Cabinet Secretary for Justice The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans, commonly referred to as the Justice Secretary, is a position in the Scottish Government Cabinet. The Cabinet Secretary has overall responsibility for law and order in Scotland. The Cabinet Secreta ...

Kenny MacAskill Kenneth Wright MacAskill (born 28 April 1958) is a Scottish politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for East Lothian since 2019. He previously served as Cabinet Secretary for Justice from 2007 to 2014 and was a Member of the Scottish ...

MSP instructed the

Scottish Law Commission The Scottish Law Commission is an advisory non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It was established in 1965 to keep Scots law under review and recommend necessary reforms to improve, simplify and update the country's legal sy ...

to consider the law relating to several issues arising from the trial and make recommendations for reform. One of these issues was "the principle of double jeopardy, and whether there should be exceptions to it" In December 2009 the Scottish Law Commission published its report on the principle of double jeopardy. The commission recommended that the principle be retained in

Scottish 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 ...

and also "The general rule against double jeopardy should be reformed and restated in statute". The commission further recommended that exceptions to the rule be created in three circumstances: * Where the acquittal is tainted by offences against the course of justice such as (but not limited to)

bribery Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...

perverting the course of justice Perverting the course of justice is an offence committed when a person prevents justice from being served on themselves or on another party. In England and Wales it is a common law offence, carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Statu ...

and

subornation of perjury In United States law, American law, Scots law, and under the laws of some English-speaking Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth nations, subornation of perjury is the crime of persuading or permitting a person to commit perjury, which is the swe ...

. The commission concluded that perjury in itself should not be suitable grounds to order a retrial. * Where the previously acquitted has made a credible admission of guilt. * Where new evidence which was not and could not with ordinary diligence have been available at the trial has been found. The commission recommended that this only be permitted where the new evidence "substantially strengthens the case against the accused" and that if a reasonable

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartiality, impartial verdict (a Question of fact, finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty o ...

had heard the evidence at the trial that this would have made it highly likely that the accused be convicted. The commission addressed the issue of retrospectivity, recommending that any exceptions to the rule of double jeopardy only apply to cases heard after any legislation created to create the exceptions is passed. This recommendation was not followed by the Scottish Government and the Double Jeopardy (Scotland) Bill introduced on 7 October 2010 included provisions to apply the proposed legislation retrospectively. Almost all of the other recommendations made by the Commission made it into the bill.

References

{{reflist Acts of the Scottish Parliament 2011