Scots criminal law relies far more heavily on common law than in England and Wales. Scottish criminal law includes offences against the person of

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

, culpable homicide, rape and

assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

, offences against property such as theft and malicious mischief, and public order offences including mobbing and breach of the peace. Scottish criminal law can also be found in the

statutes A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

of the UK Parliament with some areas of criminal law, such as misuse of drugs and traffic offences appearing identical on both sides of the Border. Scottish criminal law can also be found in the statute books of the Scottish Parliament such as the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 (2009 asp 9) and Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Act 2007 (2007 asp 11) which only apply to Scotland. In fact, the Scots requirement of corroboration in criminal matters changes the practical prosecution of crimes derived from the same enactment. Corroboration is not required in England or in civil cases in Scotland.

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 ...

is one of the few legal systems that require corroboration.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (''COPFS'') provides independent public prosecution of criminal offences in Scotland (as the more recent Crown Prosecution Service does in England and Wales) and has extensive responsibilities in the investigation and prosecution of crime. The Crown Office is headed by the Lord Advocate, in whose name all prosecutions are carried out, and employs Advocates Depute (for the High Court of Justiciary) and Procurators Fiscal (for the Sheriff Courts) as

public prosecutors A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

. Private prosecutions are very rare in Scotland and these require "Criminal Letters" from the High Court of the Justiciary. Criminal Letters are unlikely to be granted without the agreement of the Lord Advocate.

"Not proven" verdict

The Scots legal system is unique in having three possible verdicts for a criminal trial: " guilty", " not guilty" and " not proven". Both "not guilty" and "not proven" result in an

acquittal In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the ...

. The 'not proven' verdict in modern Scots criminal law can be described as an historical accident. Historically, there were no set forms for verdicts used by early juries, and their role was simply to find the guilt or innocence of the accused. The role of the jury changed when it became customary in the Justice Court to compose lengthy indictments, where facts were listed which culminated in a statement of the punishable character of such conduct in general of which the accused ought to be punished for his commission of it. In these situations the role of the jury was to deliver one of the 'special verdicts' of "proven" or "not proven" for individual factual issues one-by-one. It was then left to the judge to pronounce upon the facts found "proven" whether this was sufficient to establish guilt of the crime charged. This practice persisted until the 1728 trial of Carnegie of Finhaven, where the jury's right to return a verdict of not guilty, and essentially pronounce on innocence and guilt, was re-established. By the 19th century, the legal profession had come to view these 'special verdicts' as obsolete, and yet the "not proven" verdict continued to be used. The 'not proven" verdict is often taken by juries and the media as meaning "we know they did it but there isn't enough proof'. The verdict, especially in high-profile cases, often causes controversy. A study was commissioned in September 2017) by academics at the Universities of Glasgow and Warwick, in collaboration with Ipsos Mori, to consider, among other things, the three verdict system in Scotland in order to inform future reform of the criminal justice system in Scotland.

List of current offences

Crimes against the person

*Murder * Culpable homicide (Comparable to the offence of manslaughter in English law) *

Corporate homicide The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (c. 19) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that seeks to broaden the law on corporate manslaughter in the United Kingdom. The Act created a new offence respectively named ...

, see the '' Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007'' *

Assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

(this offence can be charged in an aggravated form while still being considered to be the same offence) *Hamesucken *Culpable and reckless injury *Culpable and reckless endangering of the public *Uttering threats, see ''MacKellar v Dickinson (1898)'' *Sexual offences, see Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 and Sexual offences in Scotland *Stalking, see Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, s.39

Crimes of dishonesty

*Theft, which can be aggravated **theft by housebreaking **theft by opening lock-fast places ("OLP") (also, opening or attempting to open a lock-fast place with intent to steal) *Offences under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 **s57 - Being within a premises with the intention to commit theft **s58 - convicted thief in possession of articles from which an intent to steal may be inferred *Embezzlement (or breach of trust and embezzlement). *Robbery *Piracy, both at common law and under the law of nations. *Hijacking. *Fraud *Forgery, with the requirement of Uttering (i.e. used as if it was genuine), see ''Burke v MacPhail''. *Numerous statutory frauds. * Reset and the related statutory offences. * Extortion. *Unsolicited goods and services, see Unsolicited Goods and Services Act 1971. *

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 ...

(principally of a judicial officer), see Bribery Act 2010 and the

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c. 65) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered local government in Scotland on 16 May 1975. The Act followed and largely implemented the report of the Royal Commission on Local Gove ...

. *Electoral offences under the Representation of the People Act 1983. * Stouthrief

Crimes against property

*Trespass on Heritable property, see

Trespass (Scotland) Act 1865 The Trespass (Scotland) Act 1865 ( 28 & 39 Vict c 56) is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. The Act creates a criminal offence of trespass in Scotland in certain circumstances and applies a penalty which has been amended by the Crimin ...

* Malicious mischief, whether riotious and will-full or intentional and reckless. *Offences under the Explosive Substances Act 1883. * Vandalism, see Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, s.52. *Fire-raising, whether wilful or culpable and reckless. *Cruelty to animals, Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006. *Sinking and destroying a ship with intent to defraud insurers, common law. Also offences under the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990. * Plagium (i.e. child-stealing, and it is considered to be an aggravated form of theft).

Crimes relating to Public order and morality

*Abortion. * Mobbing (previously mobbing and rioting). * Breach of the peace, more commonly libelled as "Threatening or abusive behaviour", see Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, s.38. *Violation of sepulchres. *Public indecency *Indecent exposure *Sexual exposure see Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009, s.8. *Bigamy *Perjury *Attempted to pervert the Course of Justice *Escaping from lawful custody, see Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, s.91. *Contempt of Court *

Blasphemy Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...

, although criminal, no prosecutions for blasphemy have occurred since 1843.

Miscellaneous statutory offences

*Road traffic offences, see Road Traffic Act 1988. *Controlled and prohibited substances, see

Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It represents action in line with treaty commitments under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the United Nation ...

and Psychoactive Substances Act 2016. *Offences relating to alcohol licensing and licensed premises, see

Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

. *Police obstruction or assault, see Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012

Former offences

*Concealment of pregnancy. *Rape (at common law).Abolished by the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009. *Clandestine injury to women. *Lewd, indecent or libidinous practice or behaviour. *Sodomy. *Shameless indecency.Replaced with the offence of public indecency under Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, s.81. *Offences under the Forgery of Foreign Bills Act 1803. (Repealed).

Defences

* Diminished responsibility * Special defence

Significant cases

*'' Brennan v HM Advocate'' 1977 JC 38 – authority against automatism in cases of voluntary intoxication *''

Cadder v HM Advocate ''Cadder v HM Advocate'' 010UKSC 43 (26 October 2010) is a decision in which the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom held that the way in which police in Scotland detained suspects was not compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights ...

010 010 may refer to: * 10 (number) * 8 (number) in octal numeral notation * Motorola 68010, a microprocessor released by Motorola in 1982 * 010, the telephone area code of Beijing * 010, the Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the R ...

UKSC 43 - not being permitted access to a solicitor while in police custody was a breach of Article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights *'' Cawthorne v HM Advocate'' 1968 JC 32 *'' Crawford v HM Advocate'' 1950 JC 67 *''

Drury v HM Advocate ''Drury v. Her Majesty's Advocate'' is a Scottish criminal case heard before a full bench (five judges) of the High Court of Justiciary sitting as the Court of Criminal Appeal. Stuart Drury had been convicted of killing his former partner with ...

'' 2001 SCCR 538 – provided modern definition of murder *'' Jamieson v HM Advocate'' 1994 SLT 537 *'' Khaliq v HM Advocate'' 1984 JC 23 *'' Ross v HM Advocate'' 1991 JC 210 – first authoritative recognition of non-insane automatism *'' Smart v HM Advocate'' 1975 JC 30 *''

Sutherland v HM Advocate Sutherland ( gd, Cataibh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire (later co ...

'' 1994 SLT 634 *''

Moorov v HM Advocate ''Moorov (Samuel) v HM Advocate'' (1930 J.C. 68, 1930 S.L.T. 596)(additional citation 1930 J.C. 68) is a famous case in Scots criminal law based on criminal evidence and the admissibility of similar fact evidence. The case established a preced ...

'' 1930 JC 68 - admissibility of similar fact evidence - established a precedent named the Moorov doctrine