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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 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 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."[4]
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.[5]
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.[6] The Sheriff Appeal Court had its jurisdiction extended on 1 January 2016, when the provisions of the Court Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 to extend civil appeals to the Sheriff Appeal Court were brought into force by the Scottish Ministers.[7]
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 £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]
Sheriff court
The sheriff courts are the other civil courts; they sits 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 claimant), 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.[12] 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.[13] 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.[14]
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 sheriff courts are the main criminal courts; they sit locally in sheriff courts throughout Scotland organised in the six sheriffdoms. The procedure followed may either be solemn procedure, where the Sheriff sits with a jury of fifteen; or summary procedure, where the sheriff sits alone in a bench trial. From 10 December 2007, the maximum penalty that may be imposed in summary cases is 12 months imprisonment or a £10,000 fine, and in solemn cases 5 years imprisonment or an unlimited fine.[17]
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
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.
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.
Court of the Lord Lyon
The Court of the Lord Lyon, the standing court of heraldry and genealogy, is responsible for civil and criminal enforcement of armorial bearings and the right to use certain titles. It is headed by the Lord Lyon, who is King of Arms and senior herald for Scotland.
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.
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;
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]
District courts
District courts are no longer in existence. They were introduced in 1975 and sat in each local council area under summary procedure only. The Scottish Government merged the management of the sheriff and justice of the peace courts (formerly known as district courts), retaining lay justices. The Criminal Proceedings etc. (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007 enabled the Scottish Ministers to replace district courts by "justice of the peace courts".[31] The process is concluded and all district courts are now abolished and replaced with the new justice of the peace courts throughout Scotland, which have strengthened powers to allow more cases to be dealt with at this level.[citation needed]
^Report of the Royal Commission on the Court of Session and the Office of Sheriff Principal with Summary of Evidence. Royal Commission on Court of Session and Office of Sheriff Principal.
^National Records of Scotland (31 May 2013). "Exchequer Records". www.nrscotland.gov.uk. National Records of Scotland. Archived from the original on 9 April 2017. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
^"The whole power, authority, and jurisdiction at present belonging to the Court of Exchequer in Scotland, as at present constituted, shall be transferred to and vested in the Court of Session, and the Court of Session shall be also the Court of Exchequer in Scotland": "Exchequer Court (Scotland) Act 1856", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1856 c. 56
^Shand, Charles Farquhar; Darling, James Johnston (1848). "Chapter I. Of the institution of the Court". The practice of the Court of Session: on the basis of the late Mr. Darling's work of 1833. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.
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