Jurors (Scotland) Act 1825

XXI Union of Counties for Trials in Cases of High Treason.

And whereas in Cases of High Treason, and Misprisions of High Treason, a sufficient Number of Jurors for the Grand and Petty Juries cannot be had in some Counties of Scotland, and in others there is no suitable Court House, or proper Means for conducting Trials in such Cases; be it therefore enacted, That in all Cases of High Treason or Misprision of High Treason in Scotland, under any Commission of Oyer and Terminer that shall be issued by His Majesty, the Counties of Edinburgh, Haddington, and Linlithgow, shall be held to be one County, under the Description of the County of Edinburgh, whereof the Sheriff Depute of Edinburgh shall beheld to be Sheriff; the Counties of Roxburgh, Berwick, Selkirk, and Peebles shall be held to be one County, under the Description of the County of Roxburgh, whereof the Sheriff Depute of Roxburghshire shall be held to be Sheriff; the County of Dumfries and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright shall be held to be one County, under the Description of the County of Dumfries, whereof the Sheriff Depute of Dumfriesshire shall be held to be Sheriff; the Counties of Ayr and Wigton shall be held to be one County, under the Description of the County of Ayr, whereof the Sheriff Depute of Ayrshire shall be held to be Sheriff; the Counties of Argyle and Bute shall be held to be one County, under the Description of the County of Argyle, whereof the Sheriff Depute of Argyleshire shall be held to be Sheriff; the Counties of Lanark, Dumbarton, and Renfrew shall be held to be one County, under the Description of the County of Lanark, whereof the Sheriff Depute of Lanarkshire shall be held to be Sheriff; the Counties of Stirling, Clackmannan, and Kinross shall be held to be one County, under the Description of the County of Stirling, whereof the Sheriff Depute of Stirlingshire shall be held to be Sheriff; the Counties of Perth, Forfar, and Fife shall be held to be one County, under the Description of the County of Perth, whereof the Sheriff Depute of Perthshire shall be held to be Sheriff; the Counties of Aberdeen, Banff, and Kincardine shall be held to be one County, under the Description of the County of Aberdeen, whereof the Sheriff Depute of Aberdeenshire shall be held to be Sheriff ; the Counties of Inverness, Ross and Cromarty, Elgin and Nairn, Sutherland and Caithness, and the Stewartries of Orkney and Zetland, shall be held to be one County, under the Description, of the County of Inverness, whereof the Sheriff Depute of Invernesshire shall be held to be Sheriff: And it is hereby provided and declared, that it shall and may be lawful for any such Commission of Oyer and Terminer to sit in any Town or Place in any of the several Counties so held to be one County, whereof the County in which the Treason or Misprision of Treason may have been committed is one, and there to inquire into and determine all Treasons and Misprisions of Treason committed in any of the several Counties so held to be one County, in the same way as such Commission might inquire into and determine any Treasons or Misprisions of Treason committed in the Place or County in which such Commission may so sit; and upon Precepts being issued by any such Commission of Oyer and Terminer, to any of the foresaid Sheriffs or their Substitutes respectively of Edinburgh, Roxburgh, Dumfries, Ayr, Argyle, Lanark, Stirling, Perth, Aberdeen, or Inverness, such Sheriff or his Substitute shall be entitled to require that certified Copies of all Lists of Jurors made up within the several Counties of which he is to be held as Sheriff be transmitted to him, and he shall thereupon return such a Number of qualified Persons to serve on Grand and Petit Juries as shall be required pursuant to the said Commission; and the said Sheriffs shall in virtue of said Precepts five Notice to all Sheriffs, Justices of Peace, Chief Constables, Ministers, and Officers of the said Counties, to do and execute such Things as shall be required of them; for all which Purposes, and for performing whatever else may be required of them by the said Commission, the Warrant of any such Sheriff or his Substitute shall be equally good and effectual within the said several Counties of Which he is hereby declared to be Sheriff, as if such Warrant had applied only to the particular County over which the Jurisdiction of such Sheriff in other respects extends : Provided always, that nothing in this Act contained shall be held to apply to Trials of High Treason of Misprision of High Treason, save and except in so far as relates to the Union of Counties herein-before made.