New and scared

[Peter1975]

No need to apologise Frantic, Scottish law is a mystery to all of us. My greatest wish would be for a Scottish lawyer to join these groups and provide some clarity.

My limited understanding of the difference between a summons and a petition is that the latter is for more serious crimes( solemn procedure ) which we would be concerned with here - I suppose very minor sexual crimes might come into this category but I don't know.


In the spirit of further confusion, a petition can apparently be served on the person by the police, ( usually in court ) given to a family member or fixed to the door of a bail address - I seem to think they can arrive via the post as well but am typing from memory and could be wrong.


The major similarity between Scottish and English law seems to be the general lack of resources as in all public services. The television portrayal of a dedicated detective working all hours and following all leads until a case is solved is far from reality. Columbo would never have been so good if he had to split his time with the other 20 cases he was working.

[Franticwithworry]

A summons arriving in the post can be the first the defendant knows of a complaint being made against them too, certainly for the complaints heard in the lower courts. I know a few Scottish lawyers, unfortunately none of them currently criminal lawyers, so I don't get much help there, but they all say that the whole system is barbaric, antiquated and feudal.

[Peter1975]

A summons arriving in the post can be the first the defendant knows of a complaint being made against them too, certainly for the complaints heard in the lower courts. I know a few Scottish lawyers, unfortunately none of them currently criminal lawyers, so I don't get much help there, but they all say that the whole system is barbaric, antiquated and feudal.

I think any system of law can be described as such from the point of view of a genuinely innocent complainant. Scottish law does seem to be deliberately arcane, possibly because it was never conquered by the Romans.

From memory though, there is an even lower reporting to conviction rate north of the border, possibly due to the unique corroboration requirement so perhaps they are doing something right.

[Franticwithworry]

I think any system of law can be described as such from the point of view of a genuinely innocent complainant. Scottish law does seem to be deliberately arcane, possibly because it was never conquered by the Romans.

From memory though, there is an even lower reporting to conviction rate north of the border, possibly due to the unique corroboration requirement so perhaps they are doing something right.

Being describes as such by innocent victims is one thing; by the lawyers who work in it quite another. :-)

And, I have to say, the corroboration requirement is severely flawed.

[Peter1975]

You'll get little argument from me there, Scottish law in particular seems to be deliberately arcane but I will say that having searched the internet pretty often on the subject, there seems to be very little in the way of Scottish lawyers offering free advice in layman's terms and one is left to try and decipher the official government website with all of it's often impenetrable legalese. How difficult is it to write a blog if helping your fellow man is in your conscience??

The corroboration requirement, described as the "jewel in the crown" of Scottish justice is another subject altogether and is often cited as a barrier to justice for genuine victims with regular calls for its abolition, after all, what is corroborating evidence with crimes that usually happen in private?

Without doing any serious counting at all, I always had a strong impression that there were comparatively few Scottish members of the various groups when compared to Wales ( which has a smaller population ) and I loosely put this down to Scotland's unique stance ( and perhaps something very wrong in Wales! )

No matter how arcane though, I am yet to see a convincing argument that any system of law is deliberately weighted against the defendant, in fact it is quite the opposite. Every advantage ( where there is one ) is given to the defence.

[TerrifiedinScotland]

Thanks everyone!

I suppose I'm just at a crossroads of wanting to start making normal plans again, I've felt held back with this hanging over me so it's been pretty tough. The idea that I may not get definitive closure is pretty **** (to be blunt) but I'd much rather that than run the gauntlet of going through the judicial system. I mean if this bit is a mess I'd dread to think what the rest of it would be like

My lawyer seemed to suggest in my area not being contacted is the norm if it's not proceeding so I'll take the expert steer on this.

One final thing around the fact nothing was passed to the PF, I was under the impression from reading that the police would never actually make the decisions themselves and it would always be made by the PF - am I wrong?

[Franticwithworry]

As far as I know, all but the most minor of cases get approved by the PF even if they only rubber-stamp a recommendation made by the police, but I could be wrong, and in the end, it's the decision that matters, not who makes it. Make as normal plans as is possible and that will minimise the impact that this sorry episode has on your life. If there are no restrictions placed on you, don't restrict yourself. Just make sure you let your lawyer know if you change your address so you can't be accused of avoiding the issue.

You say that not being notified in your area is the norm but there are always exceptions and I hope that someone has the courtesy to let you know the outcome. It's a question of manners and they cost nothing but an email or phone call in this instance.