Courts of Scotland

The judiciary of Scotland, except the Lord Lyon King of Arms, are united under the leadership and authority of the Lord President and Lord Justice General, who is the president of the Court of Session and High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session has the authority, under the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, to regulate civil procedure through passing subordinate legislation knows as Acts of Sederunt, and the High Court of Justiciary has the authority to regulate criminal procedure through passing Acts of Adjournal. Both Acts of Sederunt and Acts of Adjournal have the capacity to amend primary legislation where it deals with civil or criminal procedure respectively.

The majority of criminal and civil justice in Scotland is handled by the local

The United Kingdom does not have a single judicial system —

The

Cases involving "devolution issues" arising under the Scotland Act 1998, as amended by the Scotland Act 2016, which includes disputes regarding the validity of Acts of the Scottish Parliament or executive functions of the Scottish Government, are heard by the Supreme Court. These cases may reach the Court as follows:

• The Court of Session may remit a case to the Supreme Court.
• The High Court of Justiciary can refer a point of law to the Supreme Court.
• The
  Law Officers of the Crown (namely the Lord Advocate, Attorney General for England and Wales, and Advocate General for Scotland) may refer a bill from the Scottish Parliament
  to the Supreme Court.
• Any court, if a Law Officer so desires, may refer a case to the Supreme Court.
• Law Officers may refer any issue not related to a bill or case to the Supreme Court.
• The parties to a case may appeal a case from the Inner House of the Court of Session.

The Court system in its modern form is based on the reforms^[3] introduced by Lord Gill as Lord President, and implemented or further modified under the Lord Presidency of Lord Carloway. The foundational legislation for the sheriff courts and many other changes is the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.

The

The Sheriff Personal Injury Court is a specialist all-Scotland court with exclusive competence to hear cases, with and without a jury, that relate to personal injury. The Personal Injury Court has concurrent jurisdiction with local sheriff courts, over claims relating to personal injury where the case is for a work-related accident claim in excess of £1,000, or where the total amount claimed is in excess of £5,000. The choice of local sheriff court or the Personal Injury Court is left to the pursuer. However, where a sheriff believes the case is so complex as to require the specialist expertise of the personal injury sheriffs they can remit the case to the Sheriff Personal Injury Court.^[8] In Scotland, all monetary claims for amounts not in excess of £100,000 are in the exclusive jurisdiction of the sheriff courts, with the Court of Session having concurrent jurisdiction for amounts of more than £100,000.^[9]

The Personal Injury Court was established by the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 and the All-Scotland Sheriff Court (Sheriff Personal Injury Court) Order 2015.^[10][11]

The

There is no further appeal from the High Court's decision on appeal, in contrast to the Court of Session, from which it is possible to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the highest court. Appeals under the Human Rights Act 1998 and devolution appeals under the Scotland Act 1998 are heard by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (previously these were head by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council).^[15]

The Sheriff Appeal Court is a national court with jurisdiction over appeals from

The Sheriff Appeal Court was established on 22 September 2015 to deal with appeals against conviction and sentence in summary proceedings before the deal with criminal appeals. The bench generally comprises three appeal sheriffs when considering appeals against conviction, and two appeal sheriffs when considering appeals against sentence. A single appeal sheriff hears appeals against bail decisions made by a sheriff or justices of the peace. The court is based at the courthouse at Lawnmarket, Edinburgh, and initially sat on two consecutive days each fortnight. Substantive criminal appeals are now heard on Tuesdays and appeals against sentence on Wednesdays.^{[verification needed][6][16]}

The

A higher sentence in solemn cases may be imposed upon remittance of the case to the High Court of Justiciary.

Justice of the peace courts are criminal courts which sit locally under summary procedure, where the justice sits alone or in some areas as a bench of three. Justices are lay magistrates who as advised by a legally qualified clerk, known as the legal adviser. The court handles a variety of minor common law crimes such as breach of the peace, theft and assault, as well as statutory offences such as vandalism, road traffic offences and other public order offences. The maximum penalty which can be imposed at this level is 60 days' imprisonment or a fine up to £2,500.

Scotland has several courts with specialist jurisdictions.

The specialist system of children's hearings handles the majority of cases involving allegations of criminal conduct involving persons under 16 in Scotland. These tribunals have wide-ranging powers to issue supervision orders for the person referred to them by the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration. Serious crimes, at the direction of a procurator fiscal, are still dealt with in the usual criminal courts.

The

The

The Scottish Land Court has jurisdiction over disputes involving agricultural tenancies and crofting rights.

Under the terms of the Church of Scotland Act 1921 the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has sole jurisdiction over its own spiritual affairs, including matters of discipline.^{[21][additional citation(s) needed]}

There are several specialist tribunals in Scotland which often have exclusive jurisdiction over cases relevant to their remit. They are subject to the oversight and ultimate authority of the Court of Session, which can review decisions through either a final appeal or through judicial review.^[22]

• Lands Tribunal for Scotland: title and land obligations
• Scottish Charity Appeals Panel
• Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland
• Pensions Appeal Tribunals for Scotland
• Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal

There are several tribunals that have jurisdiction either over the whole United Kingdom, or over Great Britain. Where these tribunals make an adjudication in Scotland they are subject to the oversight and ultimate authority of the Court of Session, which can review decisions either through a final appeal or through judicial review.^[22][23] When an Employment Tribunal makes a determination in Scotland it is subject to practice directions from the President of Employment Tribunals (Scotland), and operates under Scots law.^[24] These tribunals are administered by His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service.^[25]

In many cases there is a statutory right of appeal from a tribunal either to an upper tribunal or senior tribunal, or to the Court of Session: for example Employment Tribunal cases are appealed to the Employment Appeal Tribunal, which in turn allows appeals to the Court of Session. In the absence of a specific appeals court, the only remedy from a decision of a Tribunal is an appeal to, or judicial review by, the Court of Session, which will often be more limited in scope than an appeal.

Tribunals

• Copyright Tribunal
• Employment Tribunal
• Employment Appeal Tribunal
• First-tier Tribunal
• Investigatory Powers Tribunal
• Office of the Social Security Commissioners
• Special Immigration Appeals Commission
• Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission
• Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain
• Upper Tribunal

The

The Bill Chamber was "under the same roof" as the Court of Session, but was a separate court or jurisdiction.[26] Its history and function were discussed in the report of the Royal Commission on the Court of Session and the Office of Sheriff Principal (1927) which concluded "the usefulness of the Bill Chamber as a Court separate from the Court of Session no longer exists" and it was thus abolished by the Administration of Justice (Scotland) Act 1933.

Some of its processes are now carried out by the Accountant in Bankruptcy.^{[citation needed]}

Until 1856, there was a Court of Exchequer in Scotland, which was established Exchequer Court (Scotland) Act 1707, pursuant to a requirement of the Act of Union 1707 which stated:

And that there be a Court of Exchequer in Scotland after the Union, for deciding Questions concerning the Revenues of Customs and Excises there, having the same power and authority in such cases, as the Court of Exchequer has in England And that the said Court of Exchequer in Scotland have power of passing Signatures, Gifts Tutories, and in other things as the Court of Exchequer in Scotland hath; And that the Court of Exchequer that now is in Scotland do remain, until a New Court of Exchequer be settled by the Parliament of Great Britain in Scotland after the Union;

— Article 16, Act of Union 1707^[27]

The judges of the Court were the Barons of Exchequer who acted in both a judicial capacity, dealing with revenue cases, debts to the crown, seizure of smuggled goods and prosecutions for illicit brewing and distilling, and in an administrative capacity, mainly auditing accounts. The president of the Exchequer Court was known as the Chief Baron of Exchequer, and the initial president was the Lord High Treasurer. The 1707 Act limited the numbers of Barons to 5.^[28][29]

A separate Exchequer Court was abolished by the Exchequer Court (Scotland) Act 1856, and all of its powers were transferred to the Court of Session. With its abolishment no further Barons of Exchequer were appointed.^[30]

• Office of the Accountant of Court
• Judiciary of Scotland
• High Court of Justiciary