JURY MANUAL

Updated November 2025

The Judicial Institute has been working on reformatting the Jury Manual. The chapters which have been updated since 3 September 2024 can be found as individual files below. The remaining chapters are contained in a separate PDF and are correct up to 3 September 2024.

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        Jury Manual

1. Judicial management of jury trials - stages of the trial process
2. General directions
3. Alibi
4. Coercion
5. Concert
6. Consent
7. Corroboration - evidence of distress
8. Corroboration generally
9. De recenti statements
10. Diminished responsibility
11. Evidence of recordings
12. Hearsay
13. Identification - the need to take care
14. Incrimination
15. Morrison and McCutcheon rules (exculpatory and mixed statements)
16. Res gestae statement
17. Skilled witnesses and expert evidence
18. Statements made to the police by a suspect
19. Statements made outwith the presence of the accused
20. Conspiracy
21. Murder and attempted murder
22. Common law rape
23. Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 - Threatening or Abusive Behaviour (TBC)
24. Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 - Stalking
25. Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018
26. Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
27. Road Traffic Act 1988
28. Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 (TBC)
29. Alternative verdicts
30. Problems with verdicts
31. Verdicts - concluding remarks