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 'not proven' verdict in modern Scots criminal law can be described as an historical accident.
Both "not guilty" and "not proven" result in an acquittal. The Scots legal system is unique in having three possible verdicts for a criminal trial: " guilty", " not guilty" and " not proven". Criminal Letters are unlikely to be granted without the agreement of the Lord Advocate. Private prosecutions are very rare in Scotland and these require "Criminal Letters" from the High Court of the Justiciary. 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. 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. Scots law is one of the few legal systems that require corroboration.Ĭrown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Corroboration is not required in England or in civil cases in Scotland. In fact, the Scots requirement of corroboration in criminal matters changes the practical prosecution of crimes derived from the same enactment. 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. 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 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. Scots criminal law relies far more heavily on common law than in England and Wales.
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