Part I
(2) Any person who refuses to take an oath when required to do so under subsection (1)(b) is guilty of an offence.
(3) Subsection (4) of section 25 applies to an offence under subsection (2) as it applies to an offence under that section.
(4) Standing orders may provide for the payment of allowances and expenses to persons—
- (a) attending proceedings of the Parliament to give evidence, or
- (b) producing documents which they have been required or requested to produce,
whether or not in pursuance of a notice under section 24(1).
(5) For the purposes of sections 23 to 25 and this section, a person shall be taken to comply with a requirement to produce a document if he produces a copy of, or an extract of the relevant part of, the document.
Participation of the Scottish Law Officers. 27.—(1) If the Lord Advocate or the Solicitor General for Scotland is not a member of the Parliament—
- (a) he may participate in the proceedings of the Parliament to the extent permitted by standing orders, but may not vote, and
- (b) standing orders may in other respects provide that they are to apply to him as if he were such a member.
(2) Subsection (1) is without prejudice to section 39.
(3) The Lord Advocate or the Solicitor General for Scotland may, in any proceedings of the Parliament, decline to answer any question or produce any document relating to the operation of the system of criminal prosecution in any particular case if he considers that answering the question or producing the document—
- (a) might prejudice criminal proceedings in that case, or
- (b) would otherwise be contrary to the public interest.
Legislation
Acts of the Scottish Parliament. 28.—(1) Subject to section 29, the Parliament may make laws, to be known as Acts of the Scottish Parliament.
(2) Proposed Acts of the Scottish Parliament shall be known as Bills; and a Bill shall become an Act of the Scottish Parliament when it has been passed by the Parliament and has received Royal Assent.
(3) A Bill receives Royal Assent at the beginning of the day on which Letters Patent under the Scottish Seal signed with Her Majesty’s own hand signifying Her Assent are recorded in the Register of the Great Seal.
(4) The date of Royal Assent shall be written on the Act of the Scottish Parliament by the Clerk, and shall form part of the Act.
(5) The validity of an Act of the Scottish Parliament is not affected by any invalidity in the proceedings of the Parliament leading to its enactment.
(6) Every Act of the Scottish Parliament shall be judicially noticed.
(7) The section does not affect the power of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to make laws for Scotland.
