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In jurisprudence, double jeopardy is a procedural defence that prevents an accused person from being tried again on the same charges following an acquittal or conviction and in rare cases prosecutorial and/or judge misconduct in the same jurisdiction. Double jeopardy is a common concept in criminal law. In civil law, a similar concept is that of res judicata. Variation in common law countries is the peremptory plea, which may take the specific forms of autrefois acquit or autrefois convict. These doctrines appear to have originated in ancient Roman law, in the broader principle non bis in idem.
The Scottish National Party is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence or secession from the United Kingdom and for Scotland's membership of the European Union, with a platform based on civic nationalism. The SNP is the largest political party in Scotland, where it has the most seats in the Scottish Parliament and 45 out of the 59 Scottish seats in the House of Commons at Westminster. The current Scottish National Party leader is Humza Yousaf, who replaced Nicola Sturgeon after a leadership election on 27 March 2023.
Thomas Sheridan is a Scottish politician who served as convenor of Solidarity from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as convenor of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) from 1998 to 2004 and as co-convenor of Solidarity from 2006 to 2016. He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region from 1999 to 2007.
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 Court building in the Old Town in Edinburgh, or in dedicated buildings in Glasgow and Aberdeen. The High Court sometimes sits in various smaller towns in Scotland, where it uses the local sheriff court building. As an appeal court, the High Court sits only in Edinburgh. On one occasion the High Court of Justiciary sat outside Scotland, at Zeist in the Netherlands during the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial, as the Scottish Court in the Netherlands. At Zeist the High Court sat both as a trial court, and an appeal court for the initial appeal by Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
Wendy Alexander is a retired Scottish politician and the former Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Paisley North. She held various Scottish Government cabinet posts and was the Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2007 to 2008. In 2010–2011 she convened the Scotland Bill Committee on financial powers of the Scottish Parliament.
Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 2014 to 2023. She has served as a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since 1999, first as an additional member for the Glasgow electoral region, and as the member for Glasgow Southside from 2007.
Not proven is a verdict available to a court of law in Scotland. Under Scots law, a criminal trial may end in one of three verdicts, one of conviction ("guilty") and two of acquittal.
Robert Dundas of Arniston, the elder, 2nd Lord Arniston (1685–1753) was a Scottish lawyer, and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1722 to 1737. In 1728 he reintroduced into Scottish juries the possible verdicts of guilty or not guilty as against proven or not proven. He was Lord President of the Court of Session from 1748 to 1753.
Michael Joseph McMahon is a former Scottish Labour Party politician. He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from 1999 until 2016. He was MSP for the Hamilton North and Bellshill constituency from 1999 until its abolition in 2011, and then for the Uddingston and Bellshill constituency from 2011 to 2016.
Shirley-Anne Somerville is a Scottish politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice in the devolved Scottish government since 2023. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Dunfermline since 2016, having previously served as an additional member for the Lothians region from 2007 to 2011.
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 Edinburgh's Old Town. The only person to stand trial accused of the murders, Angus Sinclair, was acquitted in 2007 in controversial circumstances. Following the amendment of the law of double jeopardy, which would have prevented his retrial, Sinclair was retried in October 2014 and convicted of both murders on 14 November 2014. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 37 years, the longest sentence by a Scottish court, meaning he would have been 106 years old when he was eligible for a potential release on parole. He died at HM Prison Glenochil aged 73 on 11 March 2019. Coincidentally, he died on the same day the BBC's Crimewatch Roadshow programme profiled the murders.
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, culpable homicide, rape and assault, 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 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 and Prostitution (Scotland) Act 2007 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 is one of the few legal systems that require corroboration.
Humza Haroon Yousaf is a Scottish politician serving as First Minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) since March 2023. Yousaf previously served under his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon as justice secretary from 2018 to 2021 and then as health secretary from 2021 to 2023. He has been the member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow Pollok constituency since 2016, having previously represented the Glasgow region from 2011 to 2016.
William George Walker is a Scottish politician who was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Dunfermline constituency from 2011 until his resignation in 2013. He was elected as a Scottish National Party (SNP) Member but was expelled from the party in 2012 and then served as an Independent Member. In 2013, he was convicted of 23 charges of domestic violence, and then resigned as an MSP following pressure from other politicians and the press.
Events from the year 1857 in Scotland.
The Scottish Socialist Party is a left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an independent socialist Scotland.
Kate Elizabeth Forbes is a Scottish politician. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency since the 2016 Scottish Parliament election. She also served as the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy from 2020 to 2023.
Amanda Duffy, a 19-year-old Scottish student, was killed in grisly circumstances in 1992. The main suspect, Francis Auld, was tried for murder in the High Court of Justiciary in Glasgow and was acquitted when the jury returned a majority verdict of "not proven". A bid by prosecutors to try Auld for a second time on the basis of new evidence was rejected by the courts in 2016. Auld died of pancreatic cancer in July 2017, aged 45.
The next United Kingdom general election is scheduled to be held no later than 28 January 2025. It will determine the composition of the House of Commons.
Events from the year 2023 in Scotland.
References
- ↑ "Not proven verdict to be scrapped in Scottish courts". BBC News. BBC. 26 April 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
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