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]