Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Law definition

What does Law mean? In legal practice, Law describes the body of binding rules governing parties’ rights and obligations in the relevant jurisdiction(s). It is not a single statutory or case-law definition; in contracts it is a descriptive catch‑all used to capture all sources of applicable law. Law includes: (a) any primary or secondary legislation (including regulations, statutory instruments and byelaws) in force from time to time that applies to a party or to the place the Services are provided; (b) the common law and, where applicable, equity; (c) any binding court order, judgment or decree; (d) any applicable industry code,

Employment law in Scotland: UK statutory framework, Scots contract law contrasts, remedies, equality duties, and devolution proposals

Published by a LexisNexis Employment expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note

This Practice Note offers an overview of employment Law as administered by employment tribunals and the courts in Scotland. Specifically, it examines:

the degree to which statutory employment legislation enacted by the UK Parliament operates in Scotland in the same way as in England and Wales, and
the parallels and distinctions between Contract law principles applied in Scotland and those applied in England and Wales

The roles of the Scottish employment tribunals and the EAT in Scottish matters are subject to a ‘qualified transfer’ to Scotland, meaning an Order in Council is required before responsibility can pass to the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Government consulted on a draft Order in 2016. The current position is that the Scottish Government awaits a draft Order in Council from Westminster. There is, at present, no operative date for any transfer of functions. Consequently, the substantive law applied by those tribunals remains as before—for further detail on the substantive law applicable in Scotland, see The statutory regime immediately below. For details on proposals to devolve employment law to Scotland, see Proposals for devolution of employment law...

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Russell Bradley

Westwater Advocates

Russell Bradley was admitted as an advocate on 1st June 2012. Prior to that, he was in private practice as a solicitor for over 20 years. In the latter 10 years, he worked exclusively in the employment field as partner and head of the Scottish employment team with the global law firm DLA Piper. His work covered the whole gamut of employment issues. He was accredited as a specialist in employment law by the Law Society of Scotland and has retained that exclusive focus on employment work in his years since coming to the Scottish Bar. In the four-year period from November 2020 he was a fee-paid employment judge in Scotland. He returned to practice in November 2024, resuming his rights to appear in the Scottish ET and EAT. His practice is primarily first instance in the employment tribunal where he is regularly and...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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