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In Scotland, there is a vast difference between the criminal and civil courts’ structure. The different courts settle different cases solving individual disputes. The civil court’s structure handles legal disputes involving individual matters in different categories by the type of dispute, such as company law, family law, and partnership law. Its main focus is to recompense the innocent party affected by a separate party. On the other hand, criminal law is a procedure of an effort by the state to uphold social order and to prosecute individuals who have acted disorderly in a criminal manner. This can be a variety of crimes, for example theft, burglary, or physical assault. The differences between the two court structures are the types of disputes being settled within the court and the different parties involved in the dispute and the judiciary. Criminal law in Scotland contains four types of criminal court: the High Court, the Sheriff Court, the Sheriff Appeal Court, and the Justice of the Peace Court. These all-handle different levels of prosecution, and also have different judicial members attending and prosecuting.
The High Court in Scotland, established 1672, is known as the Supreme Criminal Court. The High Court consists of the Lord Justice-General, the Lord Justice-Clerk, and the Lord Commissioners of justiciary. The Lord Justice-General and Lord Justice-Clerk are chairpersons in the criminal court’s appeal. Whilst dealing with all nature of crimes, the High Court of Scotland complete authority to deal with the most serious cases, including rape and murder, and the individual on trial is named as the accused and are prosecuted by advocate deputes. In some rare cases, there is the possibility for private prosecution to be included in the case. As the Scottish court follows the system of ‘innocent until proven guilty’, prosecutors must be able to prove guiltiness with absolute clarity. When court is in session the court contains only two judges when hearing sentence appeals and at three or more judges in cases against conviction. In extraordinary cases, more judges may sit in depending on the severity of the charge or where principal matters of law are to be regarded. Besides these cases, the High Court may also take cases passed on by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. The Lord Advocate may refer particular items of law to the High Court for opinion, which allows the court to pave the law for similar succeeding cases. An example of a case that would take place in the High Court is the case of Gareth Kerr. On the 24th of February 2011, Gareth Kerr was found guilty of the attempted murder and robbery of Gail McCann, care of Grampian Police. Heard by Lord Hardie, Lord Smith, and Lord Dorrian, the opinion of the court found Gareth guilty due to the severe injuries and permanent impairment due to 25 stab wounds on his former girlfriend due to the Crown Appeal Note under section 74(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act (Scotland) 1995.
The Scotland’s Sheriff Court covers the majority of cases in the criminal court, only if the severity of the crime is not sufficient to be upheld in the High Court. The criminal cases in the Sheriff Court are typically heard by a sheriff and a jury, known as the solemn procedure, but can also be heard exclusively by a sheriff, known as the summary procedure. Criminal cases are heard through the summary procedure, while the Sheriff Court has jurisdiction to hear all criminal cases, with the exceptions of rape, murder, and treason, as they will be held solely in the High Court. The Sheriff Court was put in place to handle lesser cases, such as narcotics possession, theft, and minor cases of assault. The maximum sentence allowed to be given during a summary procedure court hearing is one year of prison time or a fine of up to £10,000, or a maximum of 5 years in prison or an unlimited fine for solemn cases. An example of the Sheriff Court summary procedure case would be the May 2017 case in the Sheriffdom of Grampian of Peterhead against Lyn Elrick regarding an act of vandalism in terms of section 52 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995. Lyn Elrick vandalized a motor vehicle previously jointly owned by her and her former partner. Although Lyn Elrick attempted to defend herself by saying she had not known the vehicle was sold by her former partner to a new owner before damaging it, however Sheriff Philip Mann found her guilty of vandalism due to an unreasonable excuse.
The Scotland’s Sheriff Appeal Court was established in September 2015 with the main function to hear proceedings ensuing from summary criminal proceedings from the Sheriff Court as well as the Justice of the Peace Court. Along with this, the Sheriff Appeal Court also hears proceedings about bail settlements. Removing the cases from other courts was the main function of increasing efficiency across all levels of the judiciary as the sheriff appeal court as the cases will be dealt with at their respective appropriate level. The court has no jury and there could be either two or three sheriffs, depending on the proceeding, and the hearings are conducted by a sole sheriff. One such case that took place in the sheriff appeal court led by Sheriff Principal M. Stephen and Sheriff A. Cubie on the 14th of August, 2019, by Lauren Burke against Procurator Fiscal, Stirling. December 13, 2018, the appellant was driving a motorized vehicle under the influence of alcohol, scoring at 82mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath, nearly four times more than the legal limit. Lauren Burke landed a punishment of level one community payback due to the Criminal Procedure Act (1995) s 227B (2) and s 227A (3) and (4), and with this there were no flaws found in the Sheriff’s hearing and therefore the punishment was deemed appropriate.
The Justice of the Peace Court hears all minor criminal proceedings upon first instance, hearing approximately a third of the court cases in Scotland. A ‘justice of the peace’ is a lay magistrate, chosen by the population within the local region that is trained in procedure and criminal law. These justices will always either sit in a group of three or by oneself, and deal with the most minor of summary cases, such as careless driving, theft, assault, and breach of the peace. Justices are also allowed to have a lawyer present in court, who act as legal advisers that the justice can refer to in regards to procedure and law.
So, in this essay, we have examined the four main types of criminal courts in Scotland and the features of their procedure.
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