{"id":343,"date":"2019-07-30T07:54:01","date_gmt":"2019-07-30T07:54:01","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2019-08-07T12:14:48","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T12:14:48","slug":"scottish-civil-court-structure-7362","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lawteacher.net\/example-essays\/scottish-civil-court-structure-7362.php","title":{"rendered":"Outline and Describe the Scottish Civil Court Structure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Outline and describe the Scottish Civil Court Structure. Indicate the types of cases which might be heard hear and which legal personnel you are likely to find participating in the proceedings. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Scotland’s legal system, also known as the Scot’s Law, has been seen to have its own independence and also its own judicial system within its own jurisdiction.  Scotland’s law is seen as a mixed system and not purely the common law system and this due to scot lawyers preferring to take ideas from Roman Law and other continental legal systems rather than the English Law. However, due to its geographical proximity to England, the influence of English law has passed over the borders and now Scot’s law draws from the common law tradition (English). Within the Scottish legal system, there are two different types of systems; the criminal justice system and the civil justice system. Both systems have their own court structures and legal personnel. Within this essay, the main focus will be on the Scottish Civil Court Structure and the type of cases that might appear within. Furthermore, the legal personnel that might be found within the structure. (too long)<\/p>\n

The criminal justice system has been seen to be the
\nbest-known justice system in Scotland out of the two. This is because its main
\npurpose is to maintain law and order by prosecuting those who commit crimes.
\nHowever, the civil justice system also plays a big role in the Scottish legal
\nsystem. This is mainly because it primarily focuses on protecting the legal
\nrights of individuals and organizations and also on resolving disputes in
\nrespect of the legal rights. It can be also said that the main function of the
\ncivil justice system is to compensate individuals who have suffered a loss due
\nto someone’s\/a party’s wrongful actions. The civil justice system can be split
\nfurther into public and private law. Public civil law mainly controls the
\naction of public bodies in their relationships with private individuals. On the
\nother hand, private civil law mainly deals with the rights of individuals and
\nbodies such as companies towards each other.<\/p>\n

The Scottish Civil Court Structure is split into three
\nnational courts. These are; the Sheriff court, court of sessions and the UK
\nsupreme court. The Sheriff court is the first court of instance in civil cases.
\nThe Sheriff courts hear the majority of civil cases in Scotland. Most of these
\ncases are small claims, summary procedure, and ordinary procedure.  The next court is the Court of Sessions,
\nsometimes it is argued that it can also be a court of first instance. However,
\nit’s still higher than the Sheriff courts. The last court and also the highest
\nranking in the UK is the UK supreme court.<\/p>\n

The Sheriff courts are also known as the local civil courts in Scotland are in every city and some towns. There is a total of forty-nine Sheriff courts in Scotland with each covering a specific Sheriff court district. These court districts are further divided into six sheriffdoms. These are Glasgow and Strathkelvin, Grampian Highland and Islands, Lothian and borders, North Strathclyde, South Strathclyde\/Dumfries\/Galloway and finally Tayside\/Central and Fife. Within these Sheriff courts, the Sheriff principal is considered as the judge who hears all cases presented. There are approximately 142 sheriffs in Scotland. These sheriffs are divided across the Sheriff courts within each court district and the amount within one court district is determinant on the amount of case the court receives. There are also a handful of floating Sheriff who can sit in the courts depending on the demand from each court. The main purpose of the Sheriff whose considered as the head is to listen to appeals in civil cases and manage the Sheriff Court in his or hers Sheriffdom. Furthermore, there is also Sheriff clerks whose main duties are to manage day to day administrative duties within the courts in each Sheriffdom. There are three different types of procedures in the Sheriff courts. These are small claims, summary procedure, and ordinary procedure. The small claims procedure is seen as an informal procedure whereby minor disputes are settled such as debts. Furthermore, the value of the claim can be up to \u00a33000. Another procedure is the summary cause procedure this procedure is linked with the payment of money and is used to resolve disputes involving the delivery of goods and rent payments. Most claims that are made within this procedure have a value of over \u00a33000 and up to \u00a35000. Finally, there is the ordinary cause procedure which handles cases that involve divorces, property, children, and claims on damages that have exceed \u00a35000. Within the Sherriff Courts, solicitors and advocates represent parties involved in the civil cases. An example of a case brought up in one of the six Sheriffdoms particularly the Glasgow Sheriffdom is that of Mrs. Evelyn Mitchell. She filed a case against Babcock Mission Critical Services Onshore Limited the operators of the helicopter which she believes cause the death of her half-brother Mr. Traill. She simply wanted to participate in the inquiry of the death to know exactly what happened, that lead to her brother’s death. However, a claim was refused by the sheriff. (Sheriffdom of Glasgow and Strathkelvin at Glasgow, 2018).<\/p>\n

Furthermore, there is the Sheriff appeal court this court is
\na new recent court that commenced in September 2016. Within this court, civil
\nappeals are heard by three appeal sheriffs in Edinburgh. However, if it’s a
\nreally small claim it can be done by one sheriff in a local sheriffdom. <\/p>\n

The second type of court within the Scottish Civil Court
\nStructure is the court of sessions. The court of sessions is designated as
\nScotland’s Supreme Civil Court and sits in the Parliament House in Edinburgh.
\nThis court is seen as a court of first instance and also a court of appeal. The
\ncourt of sessions has jurisdiction in all civil cases presented across
\nScotland. The court is divided into two houses; the outer house and the inner
\nhouse and is headed by the Lord President and the Lord Justice Clerk. The Outer
\nhouse headed by the Lord President is the court of first instance only and
\nconsists of 22 Lords who sit alone or in some special cases with a civil jury.
\nSome of the cases heard are of a wide variety such as cases based on delict and
\ncontract or commercial cases. An example of a case presented in the Outer House
\nis that of Harpreet Singh, who was trying to get a judicial review of a
\ndecision made by the Secretary of State of the Home Department that he’s not
\nallowed to reside in the UK. (Outer House, Court of Session, 2018)<\/p>\n

On the other hand, there is the Inner House which is the
\nappeal court or the \u2018court of appeal’ headed by the Lord Justice Clerk. With
\nthe Inner house, there are two divisions; the first division and the second
\ndivision both of equal importance and jurisdiction. Each division has a quorum
\nof three judges, however, there are 6 judges in each. If a difficult case
\narises or if an overruling is required a larger court of five or more judges
\ncan be convened. Most of the appeal cases that are heard are usually from the Sheriff
\ncourts or passed from the Outer House. If further appeal is required, the cases
\nare now taken to UK Supreme Court which is the highest-ranking court.  There was a recent appeal that was made by an
\nindividual named Ohran Merindez to the inner house regarding the Home Office’s
\ndecision to not grant him a leave to remain visa in the UK despite being
\nmarried to a lady who is UK citizen and has been living in Scotland for 8
\nyears. However, he went to the First-tier tribunal to try and get the appeal
\nbut was denied hence this appeal. In the end, his appeal was accepted, and his
\ncase is to be remitted in front of a different first-tier tribunal.<\/p>\n

The last and highest court is the UK Supreme Court.
\nInitially, the House of Lords was the highest Civil appeal court in the UK
\nuntil 2005 whereby the constitutional reform act created the Supreme Court for
\nthe UK. It commenced in October 2009 whereby it replaced the appellate
\ncommittee of the House of Lords and its permanent residence is on the western
\nside of Parliament Square in London. The supreme court hears appeal cases of
\ngreatest public and constitutional importance for the whole of UK. Due to the
\nfact that the supreme court is the final court it only considers cases that
\ncome directly from the court of sessions only. The supreme court consists of 12
\njudges or also known as justices of the supreme court who are appointed by the
\nqueen. The two most senior out of the 12 Justices are appointed as the
\nPresident and Deputy president of the Justices. When to comes to hearing
\nappeals the court usually presides with 5 or more members and there is no jury
\ninvolved. In some cases, 9 members can be used if the case is difficult or
\nspecial. Appeal cases made within the supreme court by individuals can be
\npresented by an advocate or solicitor. However, few cases from Scotland
\nactually make it to the UK supreme court, the recent one being the UK’s withdrawal
\nfrom the European Union.<\/p>\n

To conclude, the Scottish Civil Court Structure is there for
\nindividuals and parties to make an appeal or raise any non-criminal actions
\nwithout them resulting to take the law into their own hands. Also, it’s there
\nto protect their legal rights and also to point out any breach to those rights.
\nHowever, individuals can result in taking the alternative dispute resolution
\nway as it helps both parties if in disagreement to come to an agreement short
\nof litigation. <\/p>\n

References<\/h3>\n