Sheriffs (Scotland) Act 1747
The Sheriffs Act 1747 was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain which applied only to Scotland.
Section 1 of the act provided 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, Perth, Kincardine, Aberdeen, Inverness, Nairn, Cromarty, Argyll, Forfarshire, Banff, Sutherland, Caithness, Elgine, Ross, and Orkney. Normally a crime had to be tried in the shire where it had been committed.
Section 2 of the provided that in such a trial, the jurors could come from adjoining counties, instead of the county where the trial was held.
Section 3 of the act also provided that His Majesty's Advocate could move the trial to the High Court of Justiciary.
Section 4 of the act that peers had the right to be tried by their peers.
Section 5 of the act provided that sections 1 to 5 of the act expired after seven years, but were later revived again for another seven years in 1760 by the .
Section 12 of the act also began the process of grouping the smaller shires into a single sheriffdom, by creating shared sheriffdoms for:
- Fife and Kinross
- Stirling and Clackmannan
- Argyll and Bute
- Elgin and Nairn
- Sutherland and Caithness
- Ross and Cromarty