Crime fighters and border guards: The Scottish law officers in comparative perspective

This article examines two ways in which the law officer role in Scotland has been affected by this ‘new constitutional wave’, and draws comparisons with the role of law officers in Australia and, where appropriate, other UK jurisdictions. The first is by virtue of s 57 of the Scotland Act 1998 (the ‘Scotland Act’), which has exposed the ‘acts of the Lord Advocate’ to judicial scrutiny and the requirements of the HRA and the ECHR. The second arises as a more general consequence of devolution, which imposes upon the Scottish Law Officers new functions with respect to the legislative and executive boundaries created by that process. These functions are comparable, in many respects, with the functions performed by law officers (and in particular Solicitors-General) in Australia.