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Scotland's legal system has remained separate from those of England
and Wales and Northern Ireland, and Scotland constitutes a distinct
jurisdiction in public and private law.
"Scotland" comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels [geıl,g :l]

(г(а)ел, шотландський/ірландський кельт). The Late Latin word Scotia
("land of the Gaels") was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th
century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to (Gaelic-speaking)

Scotland north of the river Forth.
Groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on
Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000
years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of

Orkney dates from this period. Neolithic habitation, well-preserved in the
Northern Isles and Western Isles, where a lack of trees led to most structures
being built of local stone.

The written protohistory of Scotland began with the arrival of the
Roman Empire in southern and central Great Britain, when the Romans
occupied what is now England and Wales, administering it as a province

called Britannia.
Modern Scotland. The Scottish Parliament is a unicameral legislature
with 129 members (MSPs), 73 of whom represent individual constituencies,

and are elected on a first past the post system; 56 are elected in eight
different electoral regions by the additional member system. MSPs serve for
a four-year period (exceptionally five years from 2011–16). The Queen
appoints one Member of the Scottish Parliament, nominated by the

Parliament, to be First Minister. Other ministers are also appointed by the
First Minister. Together they make up the Scottish Government.
The Scottish education system has always remained distinct from the

rest of United Kingdom, with a characteristic emphasis on a broad education.
The "Curriculum for Excellence" provides the curricular framework for
children and young people from age 3 to 18. All 3- and 4-year-old children
in Scotland are entitled to a free nursery place. Formal primary education

begins at approximately 5 years old and lasts for 7 years (P1–P7); today,
children in Scotland study Standard Grades, or Intermediate qualifications
between the ages of 14 and 16. The school leaving age is 16, after which

students may choose to remain at school and study for Access, Intermediate
or Higher Grade and Advanced Higher qualifications.
There are fifteen Scottish universities, some of which are amongst the

oldest in the world. These include the University of St Andrews, the
University of Glasgow, the University of Aberdeen, the University of

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