A number of legal questions may be raised as a result of the Scotland Act and the establishment of the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive. There may, for example, be questions as to whether an Act of the Scottish Parliament is within the legislative competence of the Parliament or whether some function has transferred from a Minister of the Crown to the Scottish Ministers or whether a member of the Scottish Executive has acted or failed to act compatibly with the Convention rights or with Community law.
These important questions affect the boundary of the devolution settlement and are called “devolution issues”. This Schedule defines what they are and provides special procedures to apply to them when they arise in legal proceedings. This Schedule does not confer jurisdiction upon the courts to deal with such questions. It assumes that such questions may arise in legal proceedings whether before a court or a tribunal in Scotland, England and Wales and Northern Ireland and then provides for certain procedures to apply.
The main aspects of the special procedures which apply in the case of proceedings in Scotland are:
General