17.1

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Outline of Scotland's legal environment

17.1.1 The constitutional structure of Scotland

As part of the United Kingdom (UK), Scotland shares much of its constitution with the other three UK nations (England, Wales and Northern Ireland). Like the rest of the UK and distinct from many other developed countries, in Scotland there is no single document or group of documents that can be identified as ‘the constitution’. Instead, the constitution in Scotland consists of a mix of common law, conventions and practices, and several key pieces of legislation. One of the practical consequences of there being no single written constitution is that constitutional change can be enacted through legislation by normal legislative procedure or through the development of new conventions, practice and procedure.