The Sheriff Appeal Court (Civil) The Scottish Legal System is based on a foundation of the strong and distinctive heritage of Scotland. It is certainly an intricate system of legal practises and institutions that revolve around Scotland’s rich and diverse background. Within the Scottish Legal System involves a vast range of courts that serve specific purposes according to specific cases - courts of which are established all around the country. Examples of these courts are: ‘Justice of the Peace Court’, ‘The Supreme Civil Court’, ‘The High Court of Justiciary’, ‘The Sheriff Court’, etc. The court that this essay will focus more into detail is ‘The Sheriff Appeal Court (civil)’, however before this was established, existed only just …show more content…
The Sheriff Appeal court finally became effective seven years later of the ‘Scottish Civil Justice Review, 2009’ came out. The purpose of the Sheriff Appeal Court is to essentially enhancing efficiency by removing a significant amount of legal proceedings from the local courts (Mark Hastings, 2015). The Sheriff Appeal Court can be further divided into two separate courts, the ‘Sheriff Appeal Court (civil)’ and the ‘Sheriff Appeal Court (criminal)’ - which clearly deal with different types cases and laws. Civil cases may also be referred to as ‘non-criminal’ cases that are essentially private in nature such as domestic/family matters, contractual disputes, etc. Now that the Sheriff Appeal Court (civil) exists, all cases that have already completed it’s legal process from the Sheriff Court can be further appealed by a bench of three sheriffs, chaired by the sheriff principle of the given sheriffdom. All civil appeals go to the Sheriff Appeal Court at first instance, except in cases where the court grants direct appeal to the inner house of the ‘Court of Session’ - this usually refers to cases that deal with specialised pieces of legislation (https://beta.gov.scot/). In most cases, appeals can be made to the Sheriff Appeal Court without the need of a sheriff hearing the case - on the other hand certain decisions made by sheriffs can only be appealed with permission of the sheriff. Furthermore, if an second appeal was to be made then permission is required from the sheriff from the given Sheriff Appeal Court or in certain cases, permission of the Court of session. Ensuring that these appeal cases can be dealt with an appropriate level with respect to the value of the case, and also by avoiding claims