Holyrood's landmark legislation

Hunting with hounds was outlawed north of the border

The Scottish Parliament has been prepared to forge its own legislative path since the early days of devolution.

Holyrood was only a few months old when then First Minister Donald Dewar announced moves to scrap Section 28.

He described the law which banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools as a "badge of shame".

It was introduced at Westminster under the Conservatives in 1986.

Sex education

However, its repeal in Scotland became the subject of a bitter political argument.

The move attracted Tory criticism and led to the creation of the high-profile Keep the Clause campaign, which was backed by Stagecoach millionaire Brian Souter.

MSPs eventually voted to scrap the law in June 2000 after a compromise on the wording of the legally-binding guidance on sex education which is given to schools.

Compromise has also been required to ease the path of other pieces of major legislation during the parliament's first four years.

MSPs have approved 62 bills in the last four years

The introduction of free personal care for the elderly, which came into effect in July last year, is a case in point.

The new system again put Scotland at odds with the rest of the UK, where the rules have remained unchanged.

Free personal and nursing care was first recommended in a report by Sir Stewart Sutherland in March 1999.

Under the system in place at that time the elderly were entitled to help with their nursing costs but not personal care, which includes washing and dressing.

The Scottish Executive initially refused to adopt the proposals in full.

However, ministers performed a U-turn in January 2001 before a crucial parliamentary vote they were being tipped to lose.

Full recommendations

Labour's partners in the coalition, the Liberal Democrats, had been expected to join the Scottish National Party and the Conservatives in voting for a motion calling for the full implementation of Sir Stewart's recommendations.

In September that year Henry McLeish, Mr Dewar's successor as first minister, brought forward proposals to do just that.

The legislation was finally passed by the Scottish Parliament in February 2002.

Holyrood has also gone its own way on the issue of tuition fees, which were abolished for Scottish students studying north of the border.

Free personal care for the elderly came into effect last year

There is now a deferred payment of £2,000, which must be repaid when the student earns a salary of at least £10,000.

Scotland also became the first part of the UK to ban mounted hunting with hounds.

The legislation, which effectively outlaws fox-hunting, fox-baiting and hare coursing, was initially introduced by Sports Minister Mike Watson while still a backbencher.

His proposals underwent considerable modification as they passed through the parliamentary system, eventually being approved by MSPs in February last year.

Opponents of hunting welcomed the end of a "barbaric sport" when the law came into effect in August last year.

Pro-hunt supporters claimed that the act breached their human rights, but failed in a legal challenge to have the legislation overturned.

'Land grab'

The final months of the parliament also saw the approval of some landmark legislation, including the Land Reform Bill.

It won MSPs' support in January after two days of voting on a series of amendments.

The bill establishes a right of access for ramblers and gives crofting communities the right to buy their own land - a provision which the Tories compared to a "Mugabe-style land grab".

The final days of the parliamentary session also saw the green light for the biggest overhaul of mental health legislation for 40 years.

The release of a killer from Carstairs prompted Holyrood's first law

The Mental Health Care and Treatment Bill was passed unanimously after two days of debate on more than 750 amendments.

Mental health was also the subject of the first piece of legislation to be introduced by the Scottish Parliament, back in September 1999.

That bill aimed to close a loophole which allowed killer Noel Ruddle to walk free from the state psychiatric hospital at Carstairs after arguing that treatment procedures were of no benefit to him.

It became the first of 62 bills to be approved at Holyrood, along with 1,300 pieces of subordinate legislation.

During that time the potential for MSPs outside the ruling coalition to force the agenda at Holyrood was highlighted by the campaign to abolish warrant sales and poindings.

Debt recovery

The proposal put forward by Scottish Socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan won parliamentary approval in December 2000.

The vote came eight months after fears of a backbench rebellion forced the Scottish Executive to withdraw a motion against his member's bill.

However, the parliament did agree to delay implementation of the bill by two years so that alternative means of debt recovery could be devised.

Mr Sheridan's bill effectively became redundant in November last year when the parliament approved an executive bill setting out that new system of debt collection.

The proposals were defended by ministers - although Mr Sheridan claimed that they had ended up bringing in warrant sales by another name.