The Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (Commencement No. 5, Transitional and Saving Provisions) Order 2015

Made: 4th November 2015

Laid before the Scottish Parliament: 6th November 2015

Coming into force: 1st January 2016

The Scottish Ministers make the following Order in exercise of the powers conferred by section 138(2) and (3) of the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014[^f00001] and all other powers enabling them to do so.

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1

• (1) This Order may be cited as the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (Commencement No. 5, Transitional and Saving Provisions) Order 2015 and comes into force on 1st January 2016.

• (2) In this Order—

• “the Act” means the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014; and

• “the 1907 Act” means the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1907[^f00002].

Appointed day

2

• (1) Subject to paragraph (2), the day appointed for the coming into force of the provisions of the Act specified in column 1 of the table in the Schedule to this Order (the subject matter of which is specified in column 2 of that table) is 1st January 2016.

• (2) Where a purpose is specified in column 3 of the table in the Schedule, a provision specified in column 1 of that table comes into force only for that purpose.

Appeals – general

3

Despite the repeal of sections 27 to 29 of the 1907 Act (appeals from sheriffs or sheriffs principal) by paragraph 4(e) of schedule 5 to the Act, those sections continue to apply—

• (a) to a decision of a sheriff made before 1st January 2016; and

• (b) to an appeal against a decision of a sheriff principal in an appeal under section 27 of the 1907 Act.

Appeals – summary causes

4

In relation to a decision of a sheriff made on or after 1st January 2016, section 38 of the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1971[^f00003] (appeal in summary causes) applies as if the references to the sheriff principal were references to the Sheriff Appeal Court.

All-Scotland sheriff court: references to the Sheriff Appeal Court

5

For article 8(1) of the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (Commencement No. 3, Transitional and Saving Provisions) Order 2015[^f00004] (all-Scotland sheriff court: references to the Sheriff Appeal Court), substitute—

(1) Paragraphs (2) and (3) have effect in relation to any application made under section 69 or 71 of the Act before 1st January 2016.

SCHEDULE — Provisions of the Act coming into force on 1st January 2016

Signed

PAUL WHEELHOUSE — Authorised to sign by the Scottish Ministers — 4th November 2015

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Order brings into force provisions of the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (“the Act”). The provisions specified in column 1 of the table in the Schedule to the Order come into force on 1st January 2016. The subject matter of these provisions is set out in column 2 of the table, and where provisions are brought into force only for a limited purpose, this purpose is given in column 3.

Section 109 of the Act, which is brought into force by this Order with effect from 1st January 2016, abolishes appeals from the sheriff to the sheriff principal and provides for any such appeals to be heard instead by the Sheriff Appeal Court. Article 3 preserves the pre-existing statutory provisions for appeals from decisions of sheriffs or sheriffs principal in sections 27 to 29 of the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1907 (“the 1907 Act”), in relation to decisions of sheriffs before 1st January 2016. Where an appeal process begins before 1st January 2016 the 1907 Act provisions will apply in relation to any appeals to sheriffs principal or to the Inner House of the Court of Session.

Article 4 modifies the application of section 38 of the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1971 (“the 1971 Act”) in relation to decisions of sheriffs on or after 1st January 2016 to refer to the Sheriff Appeal Court rather than to the sheriff principal (given the abolition of appeals from the sheriff to the sheriff principal by section 109 of the Act). (It is intended that the commencement of the repeal of section 38 of the 1971 Act by paragraph 6(2) of schedule 5 to the Act will coincide with the replacement of summary cause procedure by the new simple procedure provided for by sections 72 to 83 of the Act).

Article 5 preserves the transitory provision in article 8 of the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (Commencement No. 3, Transitional and Saving Provisions) Order 2015 for cases where applications relating to Sheriff Personal Injury Court proceedings are made to the sheriff principal before 1st January 2016.

The Act received Royal Assent on 10th November 2014. Sections 133, 134(1) and (3) and 135 to 139 came into force the following day.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 2014 asp 18.

[^f00002]: 1907 c.51.

[^f00003]: 1971 c.58. Section 38 was amended by the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1985 (c.73), section 18(4) and is prospectively repealed by the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, Schedule 5, paragraph 6(2).

[^f00004]: S.S.I. 2015/247.