The Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 heralds the most significant changes to Scotland’s civil justice system in generations and continues the programme of reform of Scotland’s Courts.
The modernisation of Scotland’s civil justice system was envisaged by Lord Gill when he delivered his report on the review of Scottish Civil Courts in 2009.
SCS Chief Executive, Eric McQueen says:
“Reform of Scotland’s civil courts is long overdue and these reforms will provide high quality civil justice that fully matches the expectations of 21st century Scotland.
“In planning for the reforms, the Scottish Court Service is moving to a new court structure that is accessible, efficient and cost effective, with cases and appeals being heard at the right level in both civil and criminal courts. To achieve this we are targeting investment to create a modern court structure throughout Scotland, with digital innovation at its heart.
“We are already putting in place state of the art ICT infrastructure that will provide both the speed and resilience that we require for future evidence presentation, video links, case management systems and Wi-Fi access across our courts. We will shortly start development of the first of our new generation case management systems which enable civil business to be conducted digitally.
“With the creation of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) we will be able to support the courts and tribunal judiciary through a significant period of reform. The SCTS will build on existing good practice and continue to deliver a high quality service to courts, tribunals and their users.”
Notes for Editors
Further information is available at:
Key changes which the legislation will introduce are:
Structural Changes
- The creation of a National Personal Injury (PI) Court with a Scotland – wide jurisdiction
- Cases being heard at the right level. The redistribution of civil business from the Court of Session to the sheriff courts. The privative jurisdiction of the sheriff courts is increased from £5000 - £100,000. The Outer House will hear cased in excess of £100,000
- The creation of a Sheriff Appeal Court which hears civil appeals from the sheriff courts and criminal appeals
- The creation of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service in April 2015. (A merger of the Scottish Court Service and the Scottish Tribunals Service).
Judicial Changes
- The establishment of a post of summary sheriffs who will deal with less serious criminal cases and less complex civil matters than sheriffs. Sheriffs will focus on solemn criminal business and the more serious civil cases
- The ability for the Lord President to appoint specialist sheriffs and summary sheriffs, including to serve in specialist courts, for example personal injury, family law and commercial law.
Civil Rules Changes
- The Act will be supported by the introduction of simplified procedures with an emphasis on making court rules accessible to all court users.
- Court rules will be reviewed.
- The Scottish Civil Justice Council was created in 2013 as a single rules council to draft rules of procedure and advise the Lord President on the development of the civil justice system. The procedures for judicial review will be changed.