Talk:Declaration (law)

Scottish law?

What does it mean when, in reference to a Scottish case, the report says that "no plea or declaration was made"? Is declaration in that case the "sworn affidavit" meaning mentioned near the bottom of this article? 86.136.248.48 (talk) 15:29, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

No, it is not an affidavit. At Scots common law an accused person is not a competent witness at his or her trial. When an accused person was arrested he was brought before a sheriff (Scots lower court judge) to be judicially examined. A brief description of pre-1887 judicial examination is given in chapter 22 of Walter Scott's novel Heart of Midlothian. The examination consisted of the sheriff asking the accused - traditionally known as the pannel - a series of questions about the crime he was accused of. The pannel was not on oath and was under no obligation to answer. Additionally the pannel could emit a declaration. i.e. state his case. This would be recorded by the sheriff and would subsequently form part of the evidence at the pannel's trial.

The Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1887 gave a pannel the right to a consultation with a solicitor prior to judicial examination or declaration. After judicial examination the pannel could be committed to prison for a period of no more than eight days for further examination. The further examination would allow the authorities to make enquiries into the crime and the responses made by the pannel at first appearance. At the close of the second examination the pannel is usually committed for trial.

The Criminal Evidence Act 1898 provided the accused with the option of giving evidence at his trial. After 1898 accused persons rarely made declarations, but judicial examinations continued to held in every case. The Summary Jurisdiction (Scotland) Act section 77 amended the 1887 Act to specifically provide that where a pannel intimated that he did not take a plea to the relevance of the charge, or to the competence of the proceedings, or made a plea in bar of trial on the basis of insanity and also stated that he did not wish to emit a declaration, {i.e. where he made no plea or declaration) it was unnecessary to hold a judicial examination before committing him, either for further examination or until liberated in due course of law.

Since most accused will rely on their right to give evidence rather than make a declaration, where they are charged with a serious offence likely to proceed before a jury, they generally make no plea or declaration before being committed to prison or admitted to bail. <ref> Renton & Brown's Criminal Procedure according to the Law of Scotland, sixth edition, Chapter 12. ISBN 0 414 01151 1 PrimeBOT (talk) 23:28, 6 July 2017 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr Physical (talk • contribs) 21:10, 22 October 2013 (UTC)