Justiciary Courts (Scotland) Act 1814
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1814 c. 67 |
| Year | 1814 |
(54 Geo. 3) C A P. LXVII.
[27th May 1814]
'WHEREAS by the Form of Proceeding in Trials for Crimes before the High Court and Circuit Courts of Justiciary inScotland , Verdicts of Juries must be prepared in Writing, and regularly executed in Presence of the Jurymen, by their Chancellor and Clerk, after the Jury are inclosed, when Access to the Court for Advice or Direction, or otherwise, is incompetent: And Whereas the Necessity of always observing this Form is in many cases attended with an unnecessary Consumption of Time and Delay of Public Business; and by means of Mistakes in written Verdicts, guilty Persons sometimes escape Punishment, and the Ends of Justice are thereby defeated;' May it therefore please Your Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it enacted by The King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritualand Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That notwithstanding any Law or Practice to the contrary, it shall hereafter be lawful for the said High Court of Justiciary and Circuit Courts, and at the Discretion thereof respectively, to receive Verdicts from Juries by the Mouth of their Chancellors, when upon a Consultation in the Jury Box, the whole Jurymen are agreed therein, although the said Verdicts be not contained in Writing nor prepared after the Jury shall have been inclosed, and to cause the same to be taken down and recorded; and that in cases where Juries retire from the Presence of the Court, and are inclosed in order to consider of and prepare their Verdicts, it shall also be lawful for the said High Court of Justiciary and Circuit Courts, at the Discretion of the said Courts respectively, to receive such Verdicts by the Mouth of the Chancellors of the said Juries, in Presence of the Pannel, although the Verdicts have not been made out in Writing; provided the whole Jurymen are agreed therein, and provided the Judges are then sitting in Court, so that the Jury may straightway repair to the Presence of the Court, attended by an Officer or Officers thereof.
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