This article presents an overview of the legal issues pertaining to the possible secession of Scotland from the United Kingdom. International law and existing norms are few and far between. However, many issues, such as the right to secession, settlement of debt and membership of international...

In federal systems the courts are accorded the important role of policing the boundaries of the constitutionally specified powers given to the legislature and the executive. The devolution statutes enacted by the UK parliament have created a semi-federal system, in which the courts increasingly...