Act of Sederunt (Jurisdiction in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children Rules) 2011

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) This Act of Sederunt may be cited as the Act of Sederunt (Jurisdiction in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children Rules) 2011 and comes into force on the day on which the Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children (International Obligations) (Scotland) Regulations 2010(1) come into force.

(2) A certified copy of this Act of Sederunt is to be inserted in the Books of Sederunt.

(3) In this Act of Sederunt—

“the 1996 Convention” means the Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children, signed at the Hague on 19th October 1996(2);

“Contracting State” means a State in which the 1996 Convention has entered into force;

“foreign authority” means a judicial or administrative authority in a Contracting State other than the United Kingdom;

“foreign court” means a court in a Contracting State other than the United Kingdom;

“these Rules” means the rules set out in this Act of Sederunt.

(4) A reference in these Rules to a numbered Article is a reference to the Article of the 1996 Convention so numbered.

(5) Except as provided for in these Rules or any order made by a sheriff hereunder, any action to which these Rules apply shall proceed as an ordinary cause under Schedule 1 to the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1907(3).

(6) Notwithstanding paragraph (5), the following Chapters of the Ordinary Cause Rules in Schedule 1 to the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1907 do not apply to an action under these Rules—

Chapter 3 (commencement of causes),

Chapter 5 (citation, service and intimation),

Chapter 8 (reponing),

Chapter 9 (standard procedure in defended causes).