Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

During the debate on what became the Scotland Act 1998, Lord Sewel indicated in the House of Lords  (H.L. Deb vol. 592 col. 791) that “we would expect a convention to be established that Westminster would not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters without the consent of the Scottish Parliament”.

Clause 2 of the Scotland Bill 2015  inserts a new subsection (8) into section 28 of the 1998 Act so it is recognised in statute that, although the sovereignty of the UK Parliament is unchanged by the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament, the UK Parliament will not normally legislate for devolved matters in Scotland without the consent of the Scottish Parliament.
For further details see http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/scotland.html