Admonition (or "being admonished") is the lightest punishment under Scots law.
It occurs when an offender who has been found guilty or who has pleaded guilty, is not given a fine, but instead receives a lesser penalty in the form of a verbal warning (admonished), due to a minor infringement of the law; the conviction is still recorded.
It is usually the result of either the strict application of law where no real wrong has been caused or where other circumstances (e.g. being detained, attending court) make further punishment unjust in the circumstances specific to the case involved.
In dealing with serial offenders it opened the way to excommunication.
This article related to law in Scotland is a stub.