Commercial Law

Commercial Law I

The Scottish legal is split up into two different sections, the civil court system which deals with cases where there are disputes among people or companies, for example eviction or divorce or bankruptcy, and are tried in civil courts. The criminal court system deals with cases where charges have been brought against people or companies, for example rape or murder or large scale fraud, and are tried in criminal courts. I will now talk in more detail about each of the following court systems and show how each one is structured and the jurisdiction each court has within the system.

Firstly is the Scottish civil court system which is split up into three types of courts, the Sheriff Court, the Court of Session and the House of Lords, with Sheriff Court being the lowest and House of Lords being the highest, where the final decisions are made.

Sheriffdom is a judicial district or a county and each one has a sheriff principal. Scotland is split up into six sheriffdoms, which are Grampian, Highlands and Islands/Tayside, Central and Fife/Lothian and Borders/Glasgow and Strathkelvin/North Strathclyde/South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway. These sheriffdoms are then sub divided into a total of 49 sheriff court districts, each one having a court run by one or more sheriffs, who are legally qualified, depending on where it is situated. For example, some in rural areas in Scotland will have few sheriffs, whereas the courts in places like Edinburgh and Glasgow will have lots of sheriffs and can deal with many cases in one day.

Sheriff courts are usually were most civil cases start, but with its limited power the more complex or high valued civil cases are transferred and dealt with by the Court of Session. The sheriff courts has a wide range of jurisdiction and can deal with informal small claims a claim of money or goods up to Ð'Ј750, but from January 2008 this is changing to Ð'Ј3000, summary causes mostly eviction actions e.g. disputes between landlord and tenant, ordinary causes which are the other cases, family law matters e.g. divorce, custody of the children and family maintenance, also wills, debt and bankruptcy. The sheriff courts are normally limited to cases which only involve the people living within the district or sheriffdom.

After the sheriff court has made a decision all small claim cases can be appealed to the sheriff principal, also summary causes can be appealed to the sheriff principal and then the case maybe transferred to the Inner House of the Court of Sessions depending on whether or not the sheriff principal agrees that it is appropriate. For ordinary causes, an appeal can either go through the sheriff principal and then the possibility of it going to the Inner House of the Court of Session or going straight to the Inner House without the sheriff principal being involved.

The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and situated in Edinburgh. The Court of Session has two parts to it, the Outer House which is the court of first instance and the Inner House deals with the court of appeal. The Outer House judges are called Lords Ordinary and sit on their own to resolve the case or sometimes with a jury. The Outer House has jurisdiction on all the same material as the sheriff court apart from were civil actions involve a limited amount in which sheriff court has exclusive jurisdiction. When status is involved e.g. actions of adjudication or reduction, the Outer House has exclusive jurisdiction.

The Inner House is a court of appeal and deals with people who are appealing against the decisions of the sheriff courts and the Outer House of the Court of Session. It is separated into two divisions, First division which is headed by the Lord President and the Second Division headed by the Lord Justice Clerk. These divisions both have the same jurisdiction and authority. Appeals are generally heard before three judges known as the Lords of Council and Session, although in important or complex cases the two divisions can come together to form a court of seven. The Inner House looks over the evidence and decides on the appeals from the legal arguments presented; the decision is then determined by the majority. A further appeal can be made as a result of a petition to the House of Lords.

The House of Lords has a judicial function as a court of last resort within the UK. This is the final court of appeal for all civil cases and can be very expensive to appeal to the House of Lords. The House of Lords hears the appeals on questions on fact and law from the Inner House of the Court of Session unless the case started at the sheriff court were the appeal will then be based on a question of law. There are no less than two Scottish Law Lords and either one or both will be in attendance at the hearing of the appeal. When the Law Lords have finished providing their judgments the House of Lords will then give the case back to the Inner House of the Court of Sessions, which must then follow the judgment given to them.

The Scottish criminal court system deals with criminal offences and is split up into three courts, the District Court which deals with the minor cases, the Sheriff Court and then the High Court of Justiciary which deals with the major offences. The criminal court has two procedures which shows how serious the offence is, firstly there is the summary procedure, this is where there is no jury present at the trial, therefore deals with the minor offences like drunk and disorderly or disrupting the peace. The second procedure is the solemn procedure and this is where a jury is present at the trial and deals with the serious offences such as murder and rape.

The District Court was introduced in 1975 to replace the Burgh Police Courts to deal with minor crimes and is run by the local authorities. It functions under the summary procedure so deals with the minor offences like drunkenness, minor assaults and minor thefts and tries people without a jury. In the District Court there can be one or more justice of the peace, magistrate, who will be assisted by a legally qualified clerk of the court or a stipendiary magistrate, who is qualified legally, and these handle the cases. The maximum penalty they can give is 60 days imprisonment and a Ð'Ј2500 fine for a justice of the peace and for a stipendiary magistrate it is 30 days imprisonment and a Ð'Ј5000 fine.

If people want to appeal the decision made by the District Court they have to go to the High Court of Justiciary and sitting as a Court of Appeal.

The Sheriff Court is similar to the civil court systems Sheriff Court as it provides the local court service in Scotland with each court being in one of the sheriff court districts in the sheriffdoms and the sheriff deals