In the Scottish Courts
| Published date | 01 January 1940 |
| Date | 01 January 1940 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201834000400107 |
| Subject Matter | In the Scottish Courts |
In the Scottish Courts
MODE OF APPEAL
THE
writer has frequently been asked to advise law agents
who feel aggrieved by some finding of a court of summary
jurisdiction as to the appropriate method of bringing the
finding
under
review by the High Court of Justiciary. Should
they ask the magistrate to state a case, or lodge a Bill of
Suspension?
It
is by no means an easy question to
answer;
yet the choice may prove critical and may increase or prejudice
the chances of success in the higher court. These observations
are topical and pertinent because of the attitude towards
procedure bv Bill of Suspension evinced by the judges of the
High
Court
·of Justiciary at the
autumn
sittings to hear
summary appeals.
Where the circumstances permit of the lodging of a Bill of
Suspension, there is a great deal to be said in favour of this
course in preference to the alternative of applying for a Stated
Case.
(I)
While an application to have a Case stated must be
made within five days of the court's judgment, there is no
express time-limit for the lodging of a Bill.
True,
suspension
must
be brought within a " reasonable "
time;
but
the
High
Court has given a liberal construction to this requirement. (2)
There
is no requirement of caution or consignation as a
condition precedent to suspension. (3) Suspension has what
at least appears to be an immense
advantage-that
it enables
the aggrieved party to
put
his side of the question before
the appeal court in his own words and with his own gloss on
the facts. Many agents
feel-possibly
with occasional justifica-
tion-that
to apply for a Stated Case is to
put
one's client at
the mercy of a magistrate or Clerk of court who, with the
most scrupulous intentions in the world, may be unable to
E6S
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