Extradition is a complex political thing with a rich and often controversial history so it is no surprise that Scotland has been at the heart of things for many centuries given the rich history of its own.
Extradition is a process involving the removal of a person from one country to another in order for them to stand trial or serve a prison sentence for a crime that was committed in the other country.
When extradition first came about as a concept, the main channels of movement were simple between England, Scotland, and occasionally other neighbouring European nations.
However, as the world opened up and communications worldwide increased, so too did the number of extradition agreements and nowadays the UK has such agreements in place with Governments from across the Globe.
Whilst extradition in Scotland is now governed in the main by Westminster, is has certainly not always been this way. In this article, we are going to take a close look at how the extradition process in Scotland has changed and developed over the years and the political climate of the time influenced these changes.
When did extradition first start?
The first instances of extradition in Scotland can be traced back to the medieval times when the very monarchs began to express ownership and control over certain areas of the nation.
These early types of extradition were far from the slick process we have to this day and arrangements were pretty informal in the mains. They were based on agreements between England and Scotland and focussed on the borders area where crossing was often used as a method of avoiding being prosecuted for criminal activity.
Of course, relationships between Scotland and England were not always that cordial and the strength of these extradition agreements ebbed and flowed over the years.
When did modern extradition take shape?
Extradition in Scotland as we know it today, governed by UK law and the domain of top extradition lawyers Scotland really started to take shape in the 19th century with the introduction of the Extradition Act 1870. This legislation defined the process of extradition between the UK and all its colonies, as well as certain select other foreign jurisdictions.
As it is today, extradition was used most frequently for the most serious of crimes including murder and mass fraud.
By the 20th century there were thousands of different extradition treaties in place across the globe, and as a member of the United Kingdom, Scotland weren’t short of their own.
Around twenty years ago in 2003, another significant piece of legislation changed the extradition landscape once more in the form of the Extradition Act 2003.
This act not only defined the process of making and receiving extradition requests, but also outlined the bars to extradition that could prevent a request from being accepted, including things such as human rights considerations, the right to a fair trail , and more.
Until 2021 and the arrival of Brexit, Scotland was also part of the European Arrest Warrant system.