1996 in Scotland

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – Michael Forsyth

  Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Lord Mackay of Drumadoon
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Paul Cullen

  Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Hope until 1 October; then Lord Rodger of Earlsferry
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Ross
• Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord Philip, then Lord McGhie

  Events

• 13 March – Dunblane school massacre – a gunman kills sixteen children, their teacher and himself at a primary school in Dunblane, Stirling. The killer, who wounded thirteen other children and another teacher, is quickly identified as 43-year-old former scout leader Thomas Watt Hamilton.
• 1 April – The Local Government etc. Act 1994 takes effect with 32 unitary councils replacing the 9 Regional Councils, 53 District Councils and 3 unitary authorities that had been established under the Local Government Act 1973.
• 18 May – Rangers F.C., who have already won the Scottish Football League title, complete the Scottish double by beating Hearts 5–1 in the Scottish Cup final.
• 5 July – Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to have been successfully cloned from an adult cell, is born at The Roslin Institute in Midlothian.
• October – The Shetland Times and The Shetland News become involved in a landmark legal case over alleged copyright infringement and deep linking in their websites.
• 9 November – Irvine, North Ayrshire, is designated a New Town, the last of the five created in Scotland.
• 30 November – The Stone of Scone is installed in Edinburgh Castle 700 years after it was removed from Scotland by King Edward I of England.
• Edinburgh Old Town and New Town become the first World Heritage Site in mainland Scotland.
• First of the Maggie's Centres for drop-in cancer care in the UK opens in Edinburgh.

  Births

• 13 January - Craig Storie, footballer
• 8 February - Jaison McGrath, footballer
• 1 March - Lizzie Arnot, footballer
• 15 March - Seonaid McIntosh, sport shooter
• 19 March - Kaiya Jones, actress
• 9 May - Grace Reid, diver
• 10 August - Lauren Tait, netball player

  Deaths

• 23 January – Norman MacCaig, poet
• 6 March – Stanley Booth-Clibborn, retired bishop of Manchester
• 19 March – W. H. Murray, mountaineer and writer
• 13 April – George Mackay Brown, poet
• 14 April – David Brand, Lord Brand, advocate, sheriff and Senator of the College of Justice
• 16 August – Eric Cullen, actor famous for playing "Wee Burnie" in Rab C. Nesbitt
• 24 November – Sorley MacLean, poet

  The arts

• January – Indie pop band Belle and Sebastian is formed in Glasgow; on 6 June their debut album Tigermilk is released.
• James MacMillan's first opera Inés de Castro is premièred by Scottish Opera in Glasgow.
• Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow opens.