Definition
In Scots criminal procedure, an interlocutor of relevancy is a formal judicial decree by which a court determines whether a criminal indictment or libel is legally sufficient to proceed to trial — that is, whether the charges as stated disclose an offense known to law and are framed with enough particularity to require the accused to answer them. It is an interlocutory ruling made before the merits of the case are reached, operating as a threshold judgment on the legal adequacy of the prosecution's pleading.
If the court finds the indictment relevant, the case proceeds. If found irrelevant, the indictment may be dismissed or the defective portions struck, without an acquittal on the facts. The ruling does not determine guilt or innocence; it determines only whether the charge, taken at face value, is legally cognizable.
Common Confusion
Do not conflate the interlocutor of relevancy with a demurrer or a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Though functionally analogous in that all three address threshold legal sufficiency before trial, they are procedurally distinct. The demurrer is a litigant's pleading; the interlocutor is a judicial decree. In Scots practice, relevancy could be raised by the court on its own initiative, not only by the accused, reflecting a different underlying procedural philosophy.
Also distinguish "relevancy" in this context from the evidentiary concept of relevance. Here, relevancy is a pleading standard — whether the charge is legally sufficient — not a question of whether evidence tends to prove a fact in dispute.
Why It Matters in Research
This term belongs almost exclusively to the historical Scots law corpus. Researchers encountering it in primary or secondary sources — particularly those treating Scottish criminal practice before the mid-twentieth century — should understand it as a distinct procedural mechanism with no direct English common law equivalent and no American analog. Do not map it onto the Anglo-American motion to dismiss or demurrer without acknowledging the structural differences: in Scots practice, the relevancy hearing was a formal, distinct stage in the criminal process, not merely a defensive motion.
The shared citation in both Black's and Burrill's — to Alison's Criminal Practice — points researchers toward Archibald Alison's Practice of the Criminal Law of Scotland (1833), the foundational treatise on pre-reform Scots criminal procedure. Any serious research into this term must engage that source directly. The citation volume and page (2 Alis. Crim. Pr. 373) provides a specific entry point.
Be alert to the word "libel" in this context. In Scots criminal law, "libel" means an indictment or formal criminal charge — not defamation. Researchers unfamiliar with Scots usage who encounter "relevancy of a libel" may misread the subject matter entirely.
Researchers working in comparative criminal procedure or the historical development of pleading requirements will find this term useful as a contrast point. The interlocutor of relevancy reflects a civil law influence on Scots procedure — the idea that a formal judicial act, rather than a litigant's motion alone, determines threshold sufficiency — distinguishing it from the adversarial demurrer model dominant in English and American courts.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary and Burrill's Law Dictionary are in complete agreement, reproducing identical definitions and the same citation. This convergence is informative but limiting: neither source elaborates on the procedural mechanics, the standard applied, or the consequences of an adverse relevancy ruling. Both treat the term as a brief glossary entry rather than a substantive explanation, reflecting the marginal status of Scots criminal procedure within the primarily Anglo-American scope of those dictionaries.
Neither source addresses the evolution of the relevancy hearing under later Scots procedural reforms, including changes introduced by the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1887 and subsequent legislation, which modernized and codified aspects of the practice. Researchers should not assume the 1833 Alison description remained static through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The term "interlocutor" in Scots legal usage carries specific meaning — a formal written court order — distinct from its general English legal sense of merely "interlocutory" (interim or non-final). This distinction is glossed over in both historical dictionary entries and warrants attention.
Jurisdictional Note
This term is specific to Scots criminal law and procedure. It has no application in English, Irish, or American jurisdictions. Researchers working in modern Scottish law should consult current Scottish criminal procedure statutes and the High Court of Justiciary's contemporary practice, as the procedural framework has been substantially reformed since the period in which this terminology was current.