o SCOTTISH HARASSMENT LAW o

Scots Law differs from the Law in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in many ways especially Scots Criminal Law. However much of the legislation applying to Harassment Law is the same throughout the UK. This section of the site details the principal Internet sources that I am aware of which deal with Harassment Law in Scotland and also provides links to other relevant sections of this Internet site.

o Protection from Harassment Act 1997 o
(Scots Law)

The Protection from Harassment Act 1997. was mainly passed in order to deal with problems in the law applying in England and Wales. However sections 8 to 11 apply to Scotland as does section 12.

Under section 8 civil courts in Scotland may award damages or make Interdicts (Scottish Injunctions) in cases of harassment.

Under section 11 Scottish criminal courts dealing with cases of harassment may make non-harassment orders to prevent further harassment.

Breach of either a non-harassment Interdict or an order is a criminal offence punishable with up to 5 years imprisonment. The procedures for dealing with these sections are laid down in



o Stalking and Scots Law o

In 2000 the Scottish Executive issued A Consultation Paper on Stalking and Harassment which examined the various ways in which Stalking was currently dealt with under Scots law and discussed possible options for improving the law in this area. The Scottish Parliament also issued a Research Note on Stalking and Harassment
(NB. This research note is in PDF Format and you need to have, or to download, Adobe Acrobat Viewer in order to read it. PDF is slow to load)

For further information on stalking generally, how it is investigated and dealt with go to The Stalking Page.


o Racial, Sexual and Workplace Harassment o
(Scots Law)

The UK Parliament retains primary legislative responsibility for legislation dealing with Racial and Sexual discrimination and Employment Rights. The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Race Relations Act 1976 apply throughout the UK as does a variety of legislation relating to the workplace. Further information on the law in these areas can be obtained from The Racial and Sexual Harassment Page and The Harassment at Work Page .

Section 33 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. created a new Scottish criminal offence of 'Racially Aggravated Harassment' punishable with up to seven years imprisonment whilst section 96 laid down that where any criminal offence was proved to be racially aggravated that fact should be taken into account by the court in determining sentence.



o Anti-Social Behaviour in Scots Law o

Section 19 of The Crime and Disorder Act 1998allows local authorities in Scotland to apply to a sheriff court for a person to be made subject to a Anti-Social Behaviour Order if they have

(i) acted in an anti-social manner, that is to say, in a manner that caused or was likely to cause alarm or distress; or
(ii) pursued a course of anti-social conduct, that is to say, pursued a course of conduct that caused or was likely to cause alarm or distress,
to one or more persons not of the same household as himself in the authority's area
and
(b) such an order is necessary to protect persons in the authority's area from further anti-social acts or conduct by him

 These provisions are similar to the provisions in Section 1 of the Act which applies in England and Wales and which is examined in The Anti-social Behavior Page. The primary differences are that the English provisions refer to behavior causing "harassment, alarm or distress" not merely to behaviour causing "alarm or distress". In addition the English provisions allow both the Police and local authorities to apply for anti-social behaviour orders whilst the Scottish provisions only allow local authorities to apply.

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    • ·  NEIL ADDISON     at     mail@harassment-law.co.uk  ·