An Act of Adjournal is

secondary legislation Primary legislation and secondary legislation (the latter also called delegated legislation or subordinate legislation) are two forms of law, created respectively by the legislative and executive branches of governments in representative democra ...

made by the

High Court of Justiciary The High Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. The High Court is both a trial court and a court of appeal. As a trial court, the High Court sits on circuit at Parliament House or in the adjacent former Sheriff Cour ...

, the supreme criminal court of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, to regulate the proceedings of Scottish courts hearing criminal matters. Now primarily derived from the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, the original power to create Acts of Adjournal is derived from an Act of the Parliament of Scotland of 1672. Before promulgation, Acts of Adjournal are reviewed and may be commented upon by the Criminal Courts Rules Council. Following

Scottish devolution Devolution is the process in which the central British parliament grants administrative powers (excluding principally reserved matters) to the devolved Scottish Parliament. Prior to the advent of devolution, some had argued for a Scottish ...

and the establishment of the Scottish Parliament, Acts of Adjournal are made as

Scottish Statutory Instrument A Scottish statutory instrument ( gd, Ionnsramaid Reachdail na h-Alba; SSI) is subordinate legislation made by the Scottish Ministers or a regulatory authority in exercise of powers delegated by an Act of the Scottish Parliament. SSIs are the ...

s. Before devolution, Acts were made as United Kingdom Statutory Instruments.

History

Courts Act 1672

The Courts Act 1672 (originally ''Act concerning the regulation of the judicatories'') created the High Court of Justiciary by attaching five Lords of Session to the

Lord Justice General Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

and

Lord Justice Clerk The Lord Justice Clerk is the second most senior judge in Scotland, after the Lord President of the Court of Session. Originally ''clericus justiciarie'' or Clerk to the Court of Justiciary, the counterpart in the criminal courts of the Lord ...

. The Act provided that "the judges of that court ..regulate the inferior officers thereof, and order every other thing concerning the said court," a provision which remains in force and which created the distinction between Acts of Adjournal and Acts of Sederunt. In the 19th century, a reforming of the High Court of Justiciary made all Lords of Session '' ex officio'' Lords Commissioners of Justiciary. That reformation, while now repealed, is replicated by the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, which further provides that the

Lord President of the Court of Session The Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General is the most senior judge in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, the Court of Session, and the High Court of Justiciary. The L ...

is to hold the office of Lord Justice General.

Treaty of Union

The

Treaty of Union The Treaty of Union is the name usually now given to the treaty which led to the creation of the new state of Great Britain, stating that the Kingdom of England (which already included Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland were to be "United i ...

between Scotland and England, which formed the

Kingdom of Great Britain The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a Sovereign state, sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of ...

, required that the High Court of Justiciary "remain in all time coming, as it is now constituted by the laws of the

Kingdom of Scotland The Kingdom of Scotland (; , ) was a sovereign state in northwest Europe traditionally said to have been founded in 843. Its territories expanded and shrank, but it came to occupy the northern third of the island of Great Britain, sharing a l ...

." As a result, the Courts Act 1672 continues to be the original source of the Court's authority to regulate. However, in the time since, laws enacted by the Parliament of Great Britain, the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

, and the Scottish Parliament have expanded or elaborated upon the Court's power as is permitted by the Treaty of Union, which provides that the Court is "subject, nevertheless, to such regulations as shall be made by the parliament of Great Britain."

References

Statutory law Scots law High Court of Justiciary {{scotland-stub