Russell v Dickson
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judgment Date | 14 May 1997 |
| Date | 14 May 1997 |
| Court | Court of Session (Outer House) |
Outer House of the Court of Session
Before Mr T G Coutts, QC
Scots law - judicial immunity - sheriff not liable for acting in excess of jurisdiction
A sheriff acting as a judge of summary jurisdiction was not liable in damages for unreasonably ordering an accused man to be detained in a procedure that had been held on appeal to be incompetent.
Mr T G Coutts, QC, sitting as a temporary judge in the Outer House of the Court of Session, so held, dismissing an action of damages brought by Mr Richard Russell against Mr Robert Dickson, WS.
Mr Peter Ferguson for the pursuer; Mr Robert McCreadie for the defender.
HIS LORDSHIP said that the pursuer had appeared for trial before the defender, who was a sheriff, and had pleaded guilty to careless driving, driving with excess alcohol and failing to stop after an accident.
The defender, instead of proceeding to sentence, had adjourned the cause and remanded the pursuer in custody in order that inquiries could be made about the whole conduct of the case. As a result the pursuer had spent five days in Barlinnie Prison.
In delivering their opinion upon a bill of suspension brought by the pursuer the Criminal Appeal Court had described the defender's behaviour as having been in excess of his common law power to adjourn and the pursuer's detention as unreasonable and the proceedings thereafter as incompetent.
It was a somewhat ironic footnote to those events that the result of the defender's conduct had been that the pursuer's pleas of guilty had been quashed so that he had avoided conviction on his own pleas of guilty.
In seeking damages the pursuer averred that at the trial the defender had been in a foul temper and that the pursuer believed there to be no other reason for that than vindictiveness towards the pursuer's solicitor.
He averred that the defender had on a previous occasion demonstrated malice towards the solicitor. His counsel had argued that the sheriff's conduct could not be described as a judicial act entitling him to absolute protection. Where there was excess of jurisdiction, malice assisted to show that the sheriff had forfeited his judicial protection.
Parties were agreed that a sheriff sitting as a judge in a court of summary jurisdiction was a Queen's judge entitled to all the immunities attaching to such a judge including absolute privilege in respect of statements made in court.
The matter of judicial immunity was one of public...
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