Devolution in Scothand - Legal coherence in a regionalised Europe

Abstract

ABSTRACT Scotland is currently acing an ongoing constitutional reform which started in 1998 with the devolution settlement. The devolution settlement gave Scotland an increased independence from England with a new parliament and a government with increased powers. Scotlands new constitutional document "the Scotland act" sets out inter alia that all legislation passed by the Scottish legislators must comply with the European Convention on Human Rights and the law emmanating from the European Union. This meant that the Scottish courts could strike out any act which does not comply with the Scotland Act. The cases emmanating from the Scottish courts shows that the common law system takes an aggressive approach in defending an individual's rights against the state. The case law also developed in a direction where all human rights documents and rulings were taken into account. key words Devolution, human rights, ECHR, Community law, Strasbourg, Luxembourg, draft charter of the european union, Scotland, Scotland Act, Human Rights Act