Today's note of interest comes from Scotland. All Scottish banks have the right to print their own notes. Three choose to do so: The Bank of Scotland, The Royal Bank of Scotland and the Clydesdale Bank (owned by National Australia Bank). Only the Royal Bank prints pound notes. All the banks print 5,10,20 and 100 notes. Only the Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank print 50 pound notes.

Now, the interesting part; none of the notes are legal tender in Scotland or anywhere else!
English bank notes of denomination less than 5UKP were legal tender in Scotland under Currency and Bank Notes Act 1954. Now, with the removal of Bank of England 1Pound notes, only coins constitute legal tender in Scotland. English bank notes are only legal tender in England, Wales, The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

What does this mean? It means that banknotes of Scotland are not legal currency nor or they legal tender. The lack of a true legal tender in Scotland does not cause a problem for Scots Law which is flexible enough to get round this apparent legal nonsense, as was demonstrated some time ago when one local authority tried to refuse a cash payment (in Scottish notes) on the grounds it wasn't "legal tender", but lost their case when the sheriff effectively said that they were obliged to accept anything which was commonly accepted as "money", and that should their insistence on "legal tender" have been supported, it would have resulted in the bill being paid entirely in coins, which would have been a nonsense; stopping short of saying that the council would have been "cutting off their nose to spite their face", but seeming to hint at it. ENJOY!!

The Royal Bank Of Scotland

The Clydesdale Bank

The definition of Legal tender or forced tender is payment that, by law, cannot be refused in settlement of a debt. Legal tender is variously defined in different jurisdictions. Formally, it is anything which when offered in payment extinguishes the debt. Thus, personal checks, credit cards, debit cards and similar non-cash methods of payment are not usually legal tender. The law does not relieve the debt until payment is accepted. Coins and notes are usually defined as legal tender. Some jurisdictions may forbid or restrict payment made other than by legal tender. For example, such a law might outlaw the use of foreign coins and bank notes, or require a license to perform financial transactions in a foreign currency.