SPECIAL FEATURES OF SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT 33^

reserve a point to be decided by his fellow-judges in the HigJ
Court. It is only on points of law that the High Court of Justiciary
will hear appeals from the lower criminal courts; nor is there anj
appeal from it to the House of Lords.

If a Scottish jury cannot agree, it may return a majority
verdict. In criminal cases the verdict may be "Guilty", "Not
Guilty" or "Not Proven". This last verdict, however, has the
same effect as an acquittal; the prisoner goes free and cannot be
tried again.

2. LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

Scottish local Government, like English, was extensively
reformed in 1929, and the Local Government (Scotland) Act of
that year is the basis of present administration. Many parts of
Scotland are so thinly populated that a small authority lacks
resources for any but the slightest tasks; consequently much
power is concentrated in the, hands of the County Councils.
Some of the County Councillors are elected by the Town Councils
of all the Burghs in the County; the remainder are directly elected
by the voters living outside the Burghs.

The Town Council of a Burgh is elected in the same manner
as an English Borough Council. The Councillors choose one
of themselves to be Provost (Mayor)—or, for the chief Burghs,
Lorcf Provost—and others to be Bailies. The latter may be
compared to Aldermen, except that they do not remain members
of the Council any longer than ordinary Councillors. It is the
Provost and Bailies who exercise the judicial functions described
above.

The Burghs can be classified historically as Royal, Parliamen-
tary, and Police Burghs; but there is a more recent administrative
distinction between large and small Burghs, the former being
those with more than 20,000 inhabitants. The same gradation
of powers appears as in England. Only the most important
Burghs manage their own education; in other respects Royal
and Parliamentary Burghs with more than 20,000 inhabitants