Scots law

Scots law is the system of laws used in Scotland, a home nation of the United Kingdom. Scots law is a mixture of a common law system and a civil law system. Scotland has its own judiciary and its own courts. Scotland kept Scots law from the old Kingdom of Scotland after the Acts of Union 1707 formed the British state.

Scots law is different from English law because the two kingdoms of Great Britain in the High Middle Ages and after, the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England each had its own system of laws. The Scots jurisdiction kept its own legal system, and Scots law and Scots courts are independent of English law.

After the personal union of Scotland with England and Ireland under their common king, James VI and I, Scotland kept Scots law and England kept English law. After the unification of the Parliament of Scotland with the Parliament of England by the Acts of Union 1707, the new Parliament of Great Britain in London's Palace of Westminster got the power to make Scots laws. The Parliament of Scotland, the old legislature, came to an end. Scots laws started again to be made in Scotland when the new Scottish Parliament came into being as a result of devolution in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Both the British and Scottish parliaments now make Scots law. These two legislatures are sometimes called "Westminster" and "Holyrood", named after the areas of the capital cities in which they meet.