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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

INDICTMENT, n. Sc. Law: the form of process by which a criminal is brought to trial at the instance of the Lord Advocate; the formal written charge which runs in the latter's name. This procedure is followed gen. in cases of serious crime triable by jury in the High Court or Sheriff Court. [ɪn′dəitmənt]Sc. 1769 Erskine Principles iv. iv. § 50:
The trial of crimes proceeds, either upon indictment, which is sometimes used, when the person to be tried is in prison; or by criminal letters, issuing from the signet of the justiciary.Sc. 1838 Bell Dict. Law Scot. 489:
The indictment is prepared in a syllogistic form, in which the major proposition states the nature of the crime . . . the minor proposition states the offence actually committed, . . . the conclusion is, that on the pannel's conviction by the jury, he ought to suffer the punishment inflicted by law on the crime.Sc. 1928 Green's Encyclopedia V. 226:
The Criminal Procedure Act of 1887 was therefore hailed with general approval, since it abolished the syllogistic form of indictment, and dispenses with all merely formal words and words of style.