The Scottish Parliament passed, by unanimous vote, the Courts Reform (Scotland) Bill which aims to overhaul and modernise the civil courts system. According to Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill the move should make the courts “more accessible, affordable and efficient”.
Click here to read a summary of Justice Secretary MacAskill’s comments.
The bill will introduce reform in key areas of the Scottish civil court system. One such reform will be the extension of the exclusive jurisdiction of the Sherriff Court to £100,000. The Bill also establishes a new Sheriff Appeal Court. As it stands, appeals from the Sheriff Court are made to the Court of Session. Henceforth this will only be possible with the permission of the new Appeal Court or the Inner House of the Court of Session.
Click here to read a briefing note on the changes to the Sherriff Court.
Other reforms include the imposition of a new time limit of three months for raising an action for judicial review. Furthermore, applicants seeking to judicially review a government decision of piece of legislation must first seek permission from the Court of Session to bring such an action. This process will require the applicant to prove to the Court that the application has a real prospect of success. The reforms of the judicial review procedures have been met with concern by Kim Leslie, convenor to the Law Society of Scotland’s Civil Justice Committee. According to Leslie the new requirements for bringing a judicial review are “unduly restrictive”, amounting to “too high a test” which “will seriously reduce access to justice”.
Click here to read a summary of Ms Leslie’s comments.
Click here to see the Bill as passed.