Legislation and caselaw
The Tribunal was set up by an Act of the Scottish Parliament, the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003. Acts of Parliament are known as “primary legislation”. The detail of how the Tribunal operates is contained in sets of rules. These are known as “secondary legislation”. In individual cases, courts and tribunals make findings of fact on the evidence they hear, and decide how to apply sections of legislation to those facts.
If a Tribunal case is appealed to a court and the court takes a decision about a legal point, that decision is generally binding on the Tribunal in future cases that raise the same point. A decision of the Tribunal will be set out in a document called the Full Findings and Reasons (“FFR”). On our website, we display court cases involving the Tribunal or which are otherwise helpful. We also publish a selection of the Tribunal’s decisions (FFRs).
In this section you can find: