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Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008

  • Explanatory Notes Table of contents

Please note:

All reference to 'Parts' and 'sections' are from the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008. For other versions of these Explanatory Notes, see More Resources.

  1. Introduction

  2. The Act

    1. Part 1 – Judicial Independence

      1. Section 1 - Guarantee of continued judicial independence

    2. Part 2 – the Judiciary

      1. Chapter 1 - Head of the Scottish Judiciary

        1. Section 2 – Head of the Scottish Judiciary

        2. Section 3 - Delegation of functions

      2. Chapter 2 – Senior Judiciary: Vacancy, Incapacity and Suspension

        1. Section 4 - Lord President

        2. Section 5 - Lord Justice Clerk

        3. Section 6 - Periods when both sections 4 and 5 apply

        4. Section 7 - Supplementary

        5. Section 8 – Interpretation of Chapter 2

      3. Chapter 3 - Judicial Appointments

        1. Section 9 - The Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland

        2. Section 10 - Judicial offices within the Board’s remit

        3. Section 11 - Recommendations of the Board

        4. Section 12 - Selection criteria

        5. Section 13 - Assessment of legal knowledge, skills and competence

        6. Section 14 - Encouragement of diversity

        7. Section 15 - Guidance

        8. Section 16 – Guidance: procedure

        9. Section 17 - Confidentiality of information

        10. Section 18 - Annual report

        11. Lord President and Lord Justice Clerk

          1. Section 19 - Appointment

          2. Section 20 - Selection criteria

        12. Other Court of Session judges

          1. Section 21 – Eligibility of solicitors for appointment as judges

          2. Section 22 – Temporary judges: tenure

          3. Section 23 - Re-employment of retired judges

        13. Sheriffs principal, sheriffs and part-time sheriffs

          1. Section 24 – Appointment of temporary sheriffs principal

          2. Section 25 - Re-employment of retired sheriffs principal and sheriffs

          3. Section 26 – Appointment of part-time sheriffs

          4. Section 27 – Sheriffs and part-time sheriffs: official oaths

      4. Chapter 4 – Judicial Conduct

        1. Judicial conduct

          1. Sections 28 and 29 - Rules about investigations etc. and Powers of the Lord President

        2. Judicial Complaints Reviewer

          1. Sections 30, 31, 32 and 33 – Judicial Complaints Reviewer, tenure, guidance and the Lord President’s powers on referral

        3. Suspension

          1. Section 34 – Suspension

      5. Chapter 5 – Removal from office

        1. Judges

          1. Section 35 – Tribunal to consider fitness for judicial office

          2. Section 36 - Suspension during investigation

          3. Section 37 – Further provision about tribunals

          4. Section 38 – Report of tribunal

          5. Section 39 – Temporary judges: removal from office

        2. Sheriffs

          1. Section 40 – Consideration of fitness for, and removal from, shrieval office

        3. Justices of the Peace

          1. Section 41 - Provision relating to tribunal considering fitness for office of justices of the peace

      6. Chapter 6 - Training and appraisal of justices of the peace

        1. Section 42 – Training and appraisal of justices of the peace

    3. Part 3 – the Courts

      1. The Court of Session

        1. Section 44 – Maximum number of judges

        2. Section 45 – Number of judges of the First and Second Division of the Inner House

        3. Section 46 –Divisions of the Inner House

      2. Sheriff Courts

        1. Section 47 – Sheriff principal’s responsibility

        2. Section 48 – Repeal of certain responsibilities of Scottish Ministers

        3. Section 49 – Lord President’s default power

        4. Section 50 – Alteration of boundaries of sheriffdoms

        5. Section 51 - Sheriff court districts and places where sheriff courts are to be held

        6. Section 52 – Repeal of power to appoint sheriff to assist Scottish Ministers

        7. Section 53 – Sheriffs principal and sheriffs acting in other sheriffdoms

        8. Section 54 – Residence and leave of absence of sheriffs principal

        9. Section 55 – Number, residence and deployment of sheriffs

        10. Section 56 – Leave of absence of sheriffs

      3. Justice of the peace courts

        1. Section 57 – Establishment, constitution etc.

        2. Section 58 - Sheriff principal’s responsibility

      4. Court holidays

        1. Section 59 – Court holidays in sheriff courts and justice of the peace courts

    4. Part 4 – the Scottish Court Service

      1. Establishment

        1. Section 60 – The Scottish Court Service

      2. Functions

        1. Section 61– Administrative support for the Scottish courts and judiciary

        2. Section 62 - Administrative support for other persons

        3. Section 63 – Appointment etc. of office holders

        4. Section 64 – Payment of remuneration etc. of certain judicial office holders

      3. Provision of advice etc. to the Scottish Ministers

        1. Section 65 – Provision of advice etc. to the Scottish Ministers

      4. Plans and reports

        1. Section 66 – Corporate plans

      5. Ministerial powers

        1. Section 69 – Guidance

        2. Section 70 – Default power

    5. Part 5 - General

      1. Section 71 – Orders and regulations

    6. Schedule 1 – the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland

      1. Status of the Board

      2. Membership

      3. The judicial and legal members

      4. The lay members

      5. Persons disqualified from membership

      6. Term of office

      7. Resignation and removal of members

      8. Chairing Member: appointment and tenure, resignation and removal, vacancy etc.

      9. Temporary members

      10. Conflicts of interest

      11. Miscellaneous provisions relating to the Board

    7. Schedule 2 - Panels Established under Section 18(2)

    8. Schedule 3  - the Scottish Court Service

      1. Status of SCS

      2. Membership

      3. Procedure for appointment of members

      4. Term of office

      5. Suspension of judicial members

      6. Committees

      7. Chief Executive and other staff

      8. Power to use local authority premises

      9. Freedom of Information

      10. Transfer of staff

      11. Transfer of property and liabilities

    9.  Schedule 4 – Appointment Etc. of Office Holders: Consequential Amendments

    10. Schedule 5 – Consequential Modifications

  3. Parliamentary History

  • Explanatory Notes Table of contents

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Explanatory Notes

Text created by the Scottish Government to explain what the Act sets out to achieve and to make the Act accessible to readers who are not legally qualified. Explanatory Notes were introduced in 1999 and accompany all Acts of the Scottish Parliament except those which result from Budget Bills.

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