Sheriffs (Scotland) Act 1747 Facts for Kids

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Sheriffs (Scotland) Act 1747
Dates
Act of Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
Long title	An Act for the more effectual Trial and Punishment of High Treason and Misprision of High Treason, in the Highlands of Scotland; and for abrogating the Practice of taking down the Evidence in Writing in certain Criminal Prosecutions ; and for making some further Regulations relating to Sheriffs Depute and Stewarts Depute, and their Substitutes; and for other Purposes therein mentioned
Citation	21 Geo. 2. c. 19
Territorial extent	Scotland
Royal assent	1748
Commencement	1 April 1748
Text of statute as originally enacted

Treason Act 1760
Act of Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
Citation	33 Geo. 2. c. 26

The Sheriffs (Scotland) Act 1747 (21 Geo. 2. c. 19) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which applied only to Scotland. It stated that anyone who was prosecuted on or after 1 April 1748 for treason or misprision of treason could be tried anywhere in Scotland if the crime had been committed in any of the shires of Dunbartain, Stirling, Perth, Kincardine, Aberdeen, Inverness, Nairn, Cromarty, Argyll, Forfarshire, Banff, Sutherland, Caithness, Elgine, Ross, and Orkney. Normally a crime had to be tried in the shire where it had been committed. The Act also said that in such a trial, the jurors could come from adjoining counties, instead of (as would otherwise be the case) the county where the trial was held.

It also provided that His Majesty's Advocate could move the trial to the High Court of Justiciary, and that peers had the right to be tried by their peers. These provisions expired after seven years, but were later revived again for another seven years in 1760 by another Act, 33 Geo. 2. c. 26.

The act also began the process of grouping the smaller shires into a single sheriffdom, by creating shared sheriffdoms for:

Sheriffs (Scotland) Act 1747 facts for kids

See also