Portal:Scotland

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THE SCOTLAND PORTAL

Scotland (Gaelic: Alba) is a country that occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It is part of the United Kingdom, and shares a land border to the south with England. It has a population of 5,117,000 and an area of 78,800 km².

Scotland shares a 60 mile (96 km) land border to the south with England, and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the south-west. Scottish waters border those of Norway, the Faeroes, Iceland and Ireland. Apart from the mainland, Scotland consists of over 790 islands, giving it a coastline of approximately 6200 miles (9,900 km).

The Kingdom of Scotland was united in 843, by Kenneth MacAlpin, King of Scots, and is thus one of the oldest still-existing countries in the world. Scotland existed as an independent state until the Act of Union, 1 May 1707.

The flag of Scotland - the Saltire or St Andrew's Cross - is thought to be the oldest national flag still in use. Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and Saint Andrew's Day, on 30 November, is Scotland's national day. There are currently attempts to create a national holiday on this day. Scottish people have played prominent parts in many important inventions and discoveries.

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Scots law is a unique legal system with an ancient basis in Roman law. Grounded in uncodified civil law dating back to the Corpus Juris Civilis, it also features elements of common law with medieval sources. Thus Scotland has a pluralistic, or 'mixed', legal system, of which South African law is comparable, and, to a lesser degree, the partly codified pluralistic systems of Louisiana and Quebec.

Since the Acts of Union, in 1707, it has shared a legislature with the rest of the United Kingdom. Scotland retained a fundamentally different legal system from that of England and Wales, but the Union brought English influence on Scots law. In recent years, Scots law has also been affected by European law under the Treaty of Rome, the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights (entered into by members of the Council of Europe) and the establishment of the Scottish Parliament which may pass legislation within its areas of legislative competence as detailed by the Scotland Act 1998.

Although there are many substantial differences between Scots law, English law and Northern Ireland law, much of the law is also similar, for example, Commercial law is similar throughout all jurisdictions in the United Kingdom, as is Employment Law. Different terminology is often used for the same concepts, for example, arbiters are called arbitrators in England. Another example would be the third verdict available to judges and juries (which consist of 15 members) in criminal cases: 'not proven'. The age of legal capacity under Scots law is 16, whereas under English law it is 18.

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The Lewis chessmen (named after their find-site) belong to some of the few complete medieval chess sets that have survived until today. The chessmen are believed to have been made in Norway, perhaps by craftsmen in Trondheim (where similar pieces have been found), sometime during the 12th century.

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Did You Know?

• ...that Inchbuie (pictured) is the ancient burial ground of Clan MacNab?
• ...that the Bernera Riot on Great Bernera occurred in 1872, and was one of the catalysts in land reform in the Scottish Highlands?
• ...that Nigg Rock in the South Orkney Islands was named by William S. Bruce, of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition after the birthplace of his wife, Nigg Bay?
• ...that xenon, argon and krypton were discovered by Scottish scientist William Ramsay and Morris Travers, and that they were the first to isolate helium?
• ...that the Minch was struck by possibly the biggest meteorite every to land in the British Isles?
• ...that Aberdeen, Balmoral and Blair Atholl are just a few of the Scottish place names in Sri Lanka?
• ...that Kaichi Watanabe was a Japanese engineer who worked on the Forth Bridge in the 1880s?
• ...that Super Bowl winner Lawrence Tynes, who plays for the New York Giants was born in Greenock in 1978?
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Categories

• Scotland

People — History — Politics — Education — Law — Military — Religion — Sport — Organisations — Lists

• Geography of Scotland

Subdivisions — Cities — Demographics — Environment

• Economy of Scotland

Companies — Science and technology — Tourism — Transport

• Scottish culture

Arts — Cuisine — Languages — Literature — Media — Music

• Buildings and structures in Scotland

Listed buildings — Scheduled Ancient Monuments — Visitor attractions

WikiProjects

• WikiProject Scotland
• WikiProject Clans of Scotland
• WikiProject Deletion sorting/Scotland
• WikiProject Medieval Scotland
• WikiProject Scotland Peer Review
• WikiProject Scottish Castles
• WikiProject Scottish Islands
• WikiProject Transport in Scotland

Major topics

Things you can do

• Please visit the Scottish Wikipedians' notice board and help to write new Scotland-related articles, and expand and improve existing ones.
• Visit Wikipedia:WikiProject Scotland/Assessment, and help out by assessing unrated Scottish articles.
• Add the Project Banner to Scottish articles around Wikipedia.
• Participate in WikiProject Scotland's Peer Review, including responding to PR requests and nominating Scottish articles.
• Help nominate and select new content for the Scotland portal.

Related portals

Wikipedia in other Scottish languages

Associated Wikimedia