Panel
September 20th 2025
The Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL) define this Scots law term as “an accused person in a criminal action from the time of his appearance in court”.
Recorded from the 16th century onwards, the term could initially refer to an individual or a group. The earliest citation for an accused individual comes from the High Court Books of Adjournal in 1562: “Intrandi [Enter] as secund pannale the laird of Wester Ogill”.
As we’d expect, the term typically appears in legal proceedings such as the Trial of James Stewart (1753): “The Lord Justice General, and Lords Commissioners of justiciary . . . find unanimously, the pannel James Stewart guilty, art and part, of the murder of Colin Campbell of Glenure”.
However, we also find literary examples. In 1818, Sir Walter Scott drew upon his legal background to use the term in The Heart of Midlothian: “The libel maun [must] be redargued [refuted] by the pannel proving her defences”.
In 2000, it appeared in James Robertson’s The Fanatic: “I canna mak such a pledge. An advocate canna jist pick and choose, nor can a panel wi nae siller elect his ain coonsel”.
However, it seems that the term may finally be falling out of use. Writing for the Society of Solicitors in the Supreme Courts of Scotland in January 2019, Douglas Thomson stated: “The person facing the charge is not ‘the defendant’; in modern practice he or she is called ‘the accused’, although the older term ‘the panel’ may still occasionally be heard”.
Dictionaries of the Scots Language would like to thank Bob Dewar for illustrating our Scots Word of the Week feature.
