Court of Session Act 1825
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1825 c. 120 |
| Year | 1825 |
(6 Geo. 4) C A P. CXX.
[5th July 1825]
'WHEREAS it is expedient that certain Alterations should be made in the Forms of Proceeding in the Courts of Law inScotland , and sundry Regulations established for the better expediting of Business in those Courts: And Whereas certain Acts were passed in the Reign of His late Majesty, and in the Reign of His present Majesty, concerning the Administration of Justice in Scotland , and Appeals to the House of Lords; and for the better regulating of the Court of Session in Scotland ; and for extending Trialby Jury to Civil Causes: And Whereas an Act was passed in the Fourth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, intituledAn Act for empowering Commissioners, to be appointed by His Majesty, to inquire into the Forms of Process in the Courts of Law in Scotland, and the Coupe of Appeals to the House of Lords: And Whereas, pursuant to the said last mentioned Act, His Majesty did name and appoint by His Royal Sign Manual certain Persons to inquire into the Forms of Process in the Courts of Law in Scotland , and to report on sundry Matters particularly therein set forth: And Whereas the said Commissioners so appointed have made a Report to His Majesty upon the Subject Matter upon which they were so directed to report, which Report has been laid before the Two Houses of Parliament: And Whereas it is expedient that the before mentioned Acts should in certain Particulars be altered and amended, and that certain Regulations should be established for the expediting of Business before the Courts of Law in Scotland , and for extending Trial by Jury in Civil Causes, which cannot be effected without the Authority of Parliament:' May it therefore please your Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That from and after the EleventhDay ofNovember next to come, the Seven junior Ordinary Judges of the Court of Session shall be relieved from Attendance in the Inner House, and shall not sit therein, unless in so far as is hereinafter provided, but shall act as Lords Ordinary in the Outer House, to perform the Business which by the subsisting Acts and Usages belong to the Office of Lords Ordinary in the Outer House; and the Lord President, and Three of the senior Ordinary Judges of the Court of Session, shall form the Inner House of the First Division, and the Lord Justice Clerk, with the remaining senior Ordinary Judges, shall form the Inner House of the Second Division; and the Provisions of an Act passed in the FiftiethYear of the Reign of His late Majesty, intituledAn Act for abridging the Forms of extracting Decrees in the Court of Session in Scotland, and for the Regulation of certain Parts of the Proceedings of that Court; and also of an Act passed in the Fifty third Year of the Reign of His late Majesty, intituled An Act for the better regulating of the Court of Session in Scotland; and also of an Act of the Firstand Second of His present Majesty's Reign, intituledAn Act for establishing certain Regulations respecting certain Parts of the Proceedings of the Court of Session , in so far as the same may be found inconsistent with the Regulations above expressed, shall be and the same are hereby repealed: Providedalways, that the Judges who now sit in the Inner House of either Division shall not be affected by this Enactment, except with their own Consent; and therefore the Number of Judges who are to form the Inner House of either Division, and of Lords Ordinary officiating in the Outer House, shall remain as at present, until, either by the Consent of the present Judges, or by new Appointments of Judges, the Enactment may be carried into Effect.
II Proceedings for preparing of Ordinary Causes for Trial or Judgment.
II. And be it further enacted, That from and after the said Eleventh Day ofNovember next, in all ordinary Actions in the Court of Session, the Pursuer or Pursuers shall, in the Summons, set forth in explicit Terms the Nature, Extent and Grounds of the Complaint or Cause of Action, and the Conclusions which, according to the Form of the particular Action, the said Pursuer or Pursuers shall by the Law and Practice of Scotland be entitled to deduce therefrom; and in like Manner, the Defender or Defenders shall in the Defences state in explicit Terms every Defence, both dilatory and peremptory, on which he or they means or mean to rely, and shall in particular meet the Statementof Facts and the Conclusions deduced from them in the Pursuer's Summons, either by denying the Facts therein stated, or by admitting the same, and in answer setting forth in explicit Terms the Facts on which the said Defender or Defenders found, subjoining a Summary of the Pleas in Law which are to be maintained by such Defender or Defenders.
III Production of Writings founded on.
III. And be it further enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That along with the Summons and with the Defence the Parties shall respectively produce the Deeds or Writings on which they respectively found, so far as the same are in their Custody, or within their Power.
IV No judgment pronounced till Record made up and closed.
IV. And be it further enacted, That in ordinary Causes where the Defender shall make Appearance, and neither Party shall abandon the Cause, neither the Lord Ordinary officiating in the Outer House, nor the Court, shall proceed to give Judgment upon the Merits in the Cause, until the respective Averments of the Parties in Fact, and their Pleas in Matter of Law, shall, as hereinafter directed, be set forth on the Record, and the Record made up and authenticated in manner hereinafter appointed.
V The Disposal of the dilatory Defences regulated.
V. And be it further enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That it shall be the Duty of the Lord Ordinary, at the first Calling of the Cause before him, to hear the Parties on the dilatory Defences, with Power to reserve Consideration on such dilatory Defences as require Probation, until the peremptory Defences shall be pleaded, and the Record adjusted in the Manner hereinafter directed; and if the Lord Ordinary shall sustain the dilatory Defences, or any of them, to the Effect of dismissing the Action, he shall at the same Time determine the Matter of Expences; but if, on the contrary, the said Ordinary shall repel the dilatory Defences, the Cause shall then, with the Exception hereinafter to be mentioned, proceed in its due Course of Preparation, without any separate Interlocutor being pronounced respecting Expences, reserving this Part of the Expence to be disposed of along with the rest of the Expence in the final Decision of the Cause; and the Judgment of the Lord Ordinary on the dilatory Defences shall be final, unless the Pursuer, where the Defences have been sustained and the Action dismissed, shall, within Twenty one Days from and after the Date of the Lord Ordinary's Judgment, apply by a Note in manner hereinafter directed, to have such Judgment reviewed by the Judges of the Inner House, or unless, in the Case where the Lord Ordinary shall have repelled the Defences, the Defender shall, at the Time of pronouncing Judgment as aforesaid, give Notice of his Intention to bring the Judgment under Review, in which Case the Lord Ordinary, instead of proceeding with the Preparation of the Cause, shall forthwith give Judgment for the Expellee of that preliminary Discussion; and the Defender shall then be entitled, at any Time within Twenty one Days from the Date of the Interlocutor, to apply by Note to the Inner House for a Review of the Lord Ordinary's Judgment; and if the Defender shall not avail himself of the Right thus to bring the Judgment of the Lord Ordinary under Review, an Interim Decree, with Expence of Extract, shall be allowed to go out for the Expences for which Judgment shall have been given as aforesaid; and in reviewing the Lord Ordinary's Judgment, and adhering to or altering the Interlocutor by him pronounced, the Court shall also dispose of the Matter of Expences relative to that preliminary Discussion; and if the Interlocutor of the Lord Ordinary repelling the Defence shall be adhered to, an Interim Decree shall be pronounced for the Expences decerned for by him, with the additional Expence in the Court, if such shall be allowed, on which Interim Decree Execution may proceed; and it shall not be competent to appeal to the House of Lords against the Interlocutory Judgment, where the Action is not dismissed, unless express Leave be given by the Court, reserving the Effect of the Defence if an Appeal should afterwards be taken in the Cause when finally decided.
VI Examination by the Lord Ordinary into the Correctness of the Summons and Defences.
VI. And be it further enacted, That where no dilatory Defence shall have been stated, or in case all dilatory Defences have been finally repelled, the Lord Ordinary shall proceed to examine into the Correctness of the Summons and of the peremptory Defences; and if it shall appear to the Lord Ordinary, that the Grounds of Action, as set forth in the Summons, are in Terms not sufficiently positive and clear, or the Conclusion not...
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