Scotland Act 1998 Explanatory Notes

General

The White Paper on Scotland’s Parliament proposed in Chapter 4 that the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council should become the ultimate court of last resort on matters concerning the competence of the Parliament and the Executive.

This is reflected in:

(a)

section 33 which provides for scrutiny of Bills by the Judicial Committee following a reference by the Advocate General, Lord Advocate or the Attorney General within four weeks after its passing by the Parliament; and

(b)

Schedule 6 to the Act which defines devolution issues and provides for special procedures for proceedings raising such issues, including references of, or appeals upon, such issues to the Judicial Committee.

Section 103 provides for the membership of the Judicial Committee in proceedings under the Act and for the conferring of certain powers on the Judicial Committee in relation to such proceedings.

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