Scottish civil proceedings

Scots civil procedure governs the rules of civil procedure in Scotland. It deals with the jurisdiction of the country's civil courts, namely the Court of Session and sheriff courts.

Civil procedure is regulated by Acts of Sederunt which are ordinances passed by the Court of Session. Rules for the functioning of the Court of Session were decided upon by the Court of Session Rules Council, which was instituted by the Administration of Justice (Scotland) Act 1933 and reconfirmed by the Court of Session Act 1988 and those for the Sheriff Court were agreed on by the Sheriff Court Rules Council, which is the body responsible for reviewing the Sheriff Court civil procedure under review.Primary legislation may also be enacted to regulate civil procedure, such as the Civil Evidence (Scotland) Act 1988 which removed requirements for corroborating evidence. However, rules for both the Court of Session and sheriff courts are now decided upon by the Scottish Civil Justice Council.

Since the enactment of the Human Rights Act 1998, civil procedure has increasingly been shaped by case law from the European Court of Human Rights.

In 2009 Lord Gill, the Lord Justice Clerk, delivered his Scottish Civil Courts Review which was heralded as the "most far-reaching reform of Scotland's civil justice system in nearly two centuries".

Among his 206 proposals were:

In November 2010 the Scottish Government released its response to the Review accepting "the majority of Lord Gill's recommendations" including expressly the following proposals:

In October 2011, the Scottish Government announced consultation on appointments to a new Scottish Civil Justice Council to draft rules of procedure for civil proceedings in the Court of Session and sheriff court. The establishment of the Council was one of Lord Gill's 2009 recommendations.

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