Courts of Scotland


The courts of Scotland are responsible for administration of justice in Scotland, under statutory, common law and equitable provisions within Scots law. The courts are presided over by the judiciary of Scotland, who are the various judicial office holders responsible for issuing judgments, ensuring fair trials, and deciding on sentencing. The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland, subject to appeals to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, and the High Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal court, which is only subject to the authority of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on devolution issues and human rights compatibility issues.
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 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 sheriff courts, which are arranged into six sheriffdoms led by a sheriff principal. The sheriff courts have exclusive jurisdiction over all civil cases with a monetary value up to £100,000, and are able to try criminal cases both on complaint for summary offences, and with a jury for indictable offences. Treason, murder, and rape are in the exclusive jurisdiction of the High Court of Justiciary, and whilst the High Court and sheriff courts have concurrent jurisdiction over armed robbery, drug trafficking, and sexual offences involving children virtually all these cases are heard by the High Court.
Administration for the courts is provided by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, a non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government. The Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service is operationally independent of the Scottish Ministers, and is governed by a corporate board chaired by the Lord President, and with a majority of judicial members.
There are various specialist courts and tribunals with specialist jurisdictions, which are subject to the ultimate jurisdiction of either the Court of Session or High Court of Justiciary. Children under the age of 16 who face allegations of criminal conduct are dealt with through the Children's Hearings, which are quasi-judicial in nature. Disputes involving agricultural tenancies and crofting are dealt with by the Scottish Land Court, and disputes about private rights in titles for land ownership and land valuation are dealt with by the Lands Tribunal for Scotland. Heraldry is regulated in Scotland both by the civil and criminal law, with prosecutions taken before the Court of the Lord Lyon.
Defunct and historical courts include the Admiralty Court, Court of Exchequer, district courts, and the High Court of Constabulary.

Background

The United Kingdom does not have a single judicial system – England and Wales have one system, Scotland another, and Northern Ireland a third. The military courts of the United Kingdom have jurisdiction over all members of the armed forces of the United Kingdom and civilians subject to service discipline in relation to offences against military law. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom operates across all three separate jurisdictions, hearing some civil – but not criminal – appeals in Scottish cases, and determining certain devolution and human rights issues.

Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom was created on 1 October 2009 by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. The Supreme Court hears civil appeals from the Court of Session, and it hears appeals from all the civil and criminal courts of England and Wales and of Northern Ireland. The Supreme Court has no authority to hear appeals on criminal matters from the High Court of Justiciary. Until the creation of the Supreme Court, ultimate appeal lay to the House of Lords, a chamber of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Supreme Court took over the judicial functions of the House of Lords, and also assumed the jurisdiction over devolution and human rights issues vested in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
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:

Historical

The Court system in its modern form is based on the reforms 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 Act 2014.

Court of Session

The Court of Session is the supreme civil court. It is both a court of first instance and a court of appeal, and sits exclusively in Parliament House in Edinburgh. The court of first instance is known as the Outer House, the court of appeal the Inner House. It includes specialized commercial court provisions: "The Court of Session has for many years had special provisions for dealing with commercial actions to enable specialist judges to handle commercial cases quickly and flexibly."

Sheriff Appeal Court

The Sheriff Appeal Court is a national court with a jurisdiction over civil appeals from the sheriff courts, and replaces appeals previously made to the sheriffs principal.
The Sheriff Appeal Court is a national court with a jurisdiction over appeals in summary criminal proceedings, and bail decisions in solemn procedure, from the sheriff courts and justice of the peace courts. The Sheriff Appeal Court had its jurisdiction extended on 1 January 2016, when the provisions of the Court Reform Act 2014 to extend civil appeals to the Sheriff Appeal Court were brought into force by the Scottish Ministers.

Sheriff Personal Injury Court

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, or where the total amount claimed is in excess of. 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. In Scotland, all monetary claims for amounts not in excess of are in the exclusive jurisdiction of the sheriff courts, with the Court of Session having concurrent jurisdiction for amounts of more than.
The Personal Injury Court was established by the Courts Reform Act 2014 and the All-Scotland Sheriff Court Order 2015.

Sheriff court

The sheriff courts are the other civil courts; they sit locally. The Court of Session and sheriff courts have a co-extensive jurisdiction for all cases with a monetary value in excess of £100,000, with the choice of court being given in the first place to the pursuer, the majority of difficult or high-value cases in Scotland are brought in the Court of Session. Any final decision of a sheriff may be appealed against. There is a right of appeal in civil cases to the Sheriff Appeal Court, and, with permission, to the Inner House of the Court of Session.

Criminal courts

High Court of Justiciary

The High Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal court. The High Court is both a court of first instance and also a court of appeal. As a court of first instance, the High Court sits mainly in the Justiciary Building in the Lawnmarket in Edinburgh and in the Justiciary Buildings in the Saltmarket in Glasgow, but also sits from time to time in various other places in Scotland. As a court of appeal, it sits only in Edinburgh. Appeals may be made to the High Court of Justiciary sitting as the Court of Criminal Appeal from the lower courts in criminal cases. An appeal may also be made to the High Court if the High Court itself heard the case at first instance. Two judges sit to hear an appeal against sentence, and three judges sit to hear an appeal against conviction.
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.

Sheriff Appeal Court

The Sheriff Appeal Court is a national court with jurisdiction over appeals from summary criminal proceedings in the sheriff courts and justice of the peace courts, and from bail decision in solemn procedure at the sheriff court.
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.