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Part VIU.K. Supplementary

Final provisionsU.K.

126 Interpretation.U.K.

(1)In this Act—

(2)Her Majesty may by Order in Council determine, or make provision for determining, for the purposes of this Act any boundary between waters which are to be treated as internal waters or territorial sea of the United Kingdom, or sea within British fishery limits, adjacent to Scotland and those which are not.

(3)For the purposes of this Act—

(a)the question whether any function of a body, government department, office or office-holder relates to reserved matters is to be determined by reference to the purpose for which the function is exercisable, having regard (among other things) to the likely effects in all the circumstances of any exercise of the function, but

(b)bodies to which paragraph 3 of Part III of Schedule 5 applies are to be treated as if all their functions were functions which relate to reserved matters.

(4)References in this Act to Scots private law are to the following areas of the civil law of Scotland—

(a)the general principles of private law (including private international law),

(b)the law of persons (including natural persons, legal persons and unincorporated bodies),

(c)the law of obligations (including obligations arising from contract, unilateral promise, delict, unjustified enrichment and negotiorum gestio),

(d)the law of property (including heritable and moveable property, trusts and succession), and

(e)the law of actions (including jurisdiction, remedies, evidence, procedure, diligence, recognition and enforcement of court orders, limitation of actions and arbitration),

and include references to judicial review of administrative action.

(5)References in this Act to Scots criminal law include criminal offences, jurisdiction, evidence, procedure and penalties and the treatment of offenders.

(6)References in this Act and in any other enactment to the Scottish Administration are to the office-holders in the Scottish Administration and the members of the staff of the Scottish Administration.

(7)For the purposes of this Act—

(a)references to office-holders in the Scottish Administration are to—

(i)members of the [F2Scottish Government] and junior Scottish Ministers, and

(ii)the holders of offices in the Scottish Administration which are not ministerial offices, and

(b)references to members of the staff of the Scottish Administration are to the staff of the persons referred to in paragraph (a).

(8)For the purposes of this Act, the offices in the Scottish Administration which are not ministerial offices are—

(a)the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages for Scotland, the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland and the Keeper of the Records of Scotland, and

(b)any other office of a description specified in an Order in Council made by Her Majesty under this subsection.

F3(9). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(10)In this Act, “international obligations” means any international obligations of the United Kingdom other than obligations to observe and implement F4... the Convention rights.

(11)In this Act, “by virtue of” includes “by” and “under”.

Subordinate Legislation Made

P1S. 126(1) power fully exercised (16.12.1998): different dates appointed for specified provisions by S.I. 1998/3178

Textual Amendments

F1Words in s. 126(1) repealed (25.4.2000) by 1999 c. 30, s. 88, Sch. 13 Pt. I; S.I. 2000/1047, art. 2(2)(b), Sch. Pt. II

F2Words in Act substituted (3.7.2012) by Scotland Act 2012 (c. 11), ss. 12(2)(a), 44(5) (with s. 12(3)); S.I. 2012/1710, art. 2(f)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1S. 126(7) applied by 2003 c. 21, Sch. 3A para. 104(10) (as inserted (28.12.2017) by Digital Economy Act 2017 (c. 30), s. 118(6), Sch. 1 (with Sch. 2); S.I. 2017/1286, reg. 2(b))

C2S. 126(7)(b) applied by 2015 c. 26, s. 153B(2)(b) (as inserted (1.2.2017) by Enterprise Act 2016 (c. 12), ss. 41, 44(4)(b); S.I. 2017/70, reg. 2(b))

C4S. 126(8) applied by 2015 c. 26, s. 153B(2)(a) (as inserted (1.2.2017) by Enterprise Act 2016 (c. 12), ss. 41, 44(4)(b); S.I. 2017/70, reg. 2(b))

Marginal Citations