1978 in Scotland

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – Bruce Millan

  Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Ronald King Murray
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Lord McCluskey

  Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Emslie
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Wheatley
• Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord Birsay, then Lord Elliott

  Events

• 9 February – Gordon McQueen, 25-year-old Scotland central defender, becomes Britain's first £500,000 footballer in a transfer from Leeds United to Manchester United.
• 13 April – Glasgow Garscadden by-election: Donald Dewar retains the seat for Labour with only a 3.6% swing to the Scottish National Party.
• 31 May – Hamilton by-election: George Robertson retains the seat for Labour, thwarting a strong challenge from the SNP.
• 16 July – the Strathspey Railway opens for regular tourist traffic, the oldest continuously-operating steam-worked heritage railway in Scotland, from Boat of Garten to Aviemore.
• 31 July – the Scotland Act 1978, to establish a Scottish Assembly, receives the Royal Assent.
• August – first production from the Dunlin oilfield in the North Sea.
• 17 October – a cull of grey seals in the Orkney and Western Islands is reduced after a public outcry.
• 26 October – Berwick and East Lothian by-election: Labour retains the seat with a swing of 0.8% from the Conservatives.
• 25 November – first North Sea oil comes ashore at the Sullom Voe Terminal in Shetland via the Brent System pipeline.
• The ultranationalist group Siol nan Gaidheal is formed.

  Births

• 16 March – Anneliese Dodds, Labour and Co-operative Member of Parliament
• 30 March – Chris Paterson, rugby player
• 14 May – Emma Rochlin, field hockey defender
• 20 June – Julie Fowlis, Gaelic folk singer
• 21 July – Gary Teale, footballer
• 25 October – Russell Anderson, footballer
• 10 November – Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party and Member of the Scottish Parliament
• Neil Forsyth, writer
• J. O. Morgan, poet

  Deaths

• 16 May – Diana Hay, 23rd Countess of Erroll, noblewoman
• 23 July – Tommy McLaren, footballer
• 30 July – John Mackintosh, Labour politician and advocate of devolution
• 9 September – Hugh MacDiarmid, poet

  The arts

• July – First Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival.