ART AND PART

art and part,adj. & adv. English & Scots law. Aiding in or contributing to the commission of a

crime <the lookout was involved in the burglary on an art-and-part basis> <the baker acted art and

part in the prisoner’s escape by producing a cake with a file in it>. See ACCESSORY(2).

art  and  part,n.  Scots  law.  Participation  in  or  encouragement  of  a  crime;  criminal  guilt  by

assisting, advising, or participating in the crime. Cf. OPE ET CONSILIO .

“Scots  law  never  distinguished  between  degrees  of  participation  in  a  crime,  between  what

English law distinguished as accession before the fact, concomitant accession, and accession after

the  fact.  In  treason  all  participants  were  treated  as  principal  offenders  and  indictments  in  other

cases charged the accused as ‘actor or art and part’. The Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1887

made  this  an  unnecessary  but  implied  charge  in  all  indictments.”  6  David  M.  Walker,  A  Legal

History of Scotland 397 (2001).[Blacks Law 8th]