Treason_Act_1760
Sheriffs (Scotland) Act 1747
United Kingdom legislation
The Sheriffs (Scotland) Act 1747 (21 Geo. 2. c. 19) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain[n 1] which applied only to Scotland. It stated that anyone who was prosecuted on or after 1 April 1748 for treason or misprision of treason could be tried anywhere in Scotland if the crime had been committed in any of the shires of Dunbartain, Stirling,[2] Perth, Kincardine, Aberdeen, Inverness, Nairn, Cromarty,[3] Argyll, Forfarshire, Banff,[4] Sutherland, Caithness, Elgine, Ross, and Orkney.[5] Normally a crime had to be tried in the shire where it had been committed. The Act also said that in such a trial, the jurors could come from adjoining counties, instead of (as would otherwise be the case) the county where the trial was held.[6]
It also provided that His Majesty's Advocate could move the trial to the High Court of Justiciary,[7] and that peers had the right to be tried by their peers.[8] These provisions expired after seven years,[9] but were later revived again for another seven years in 1760 by another Act, 33 Geo. 2. c. 26.[10]
The act also began the process of grouping the smaller shires into a single sheriffdom, by creating shared sheriffdoms for:[11]