The Courts Reform (Scotland) Bill proposes a number of reforms to court structure, organisation and procedure, as recommended by Lord Gill’s Scottish Civil Courts Review (also known as the Gill Review). Its key proposals are:
- an increase in the jurisdiction of the sheriff courts so that cases with a value of £150,000 or less are heard there rather than in the Court of Session
- the creation of a new judicial tier in the form of the “summary sheriff”, who will deal with less serious criminal cases and less complex civil matters
- the creation of a Sheriff Appeal Court to hear appeals from the decisions of sheriffs in civil and summary criminal matters. Permission will be required before appeal to a superior court is possible
- increased sheriff specialisation, both in the form of specialisation by individual sheriffs and specialist courts, such as the proposed specialist personal injury court
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Published: 13 March 2014