In the field of civil justice, pending procedures and proceedings initiated before the end of the transition period will continue under EU law. The e-Justice Portal, on the basis of a mutual agreement with the UK, will maintain the relevant information related to the United Kingdom until the end of 2024.

National case law

Scotland

This section provides you with a description of UK case law, focusing on the Scotland jurisdiction. The description concentrates on the case law that is available in databases that are accessible to the public.

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Scotland

Case law available in Scotland

Much of the case law from courts in the Scottish jurisdiction of the UK is available to the public.

Civil courts

Case law is published for the Court of Session and the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords, which will be replaced on 1 October 2009 by the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Judgments of particular interest from the Sheriff Courts are also published.

Criminal courts

Only judgments of significant points of law are published for the Sheriff Courts and the High Court of Justiciary, which is the Supreme Criminal Court for Scotland.

Decisions from family and some criminal cases may be made anonymous.

Case law has been published since 1998. Once a judgement is given, case law is usually published between 24 hours and 2 weeks later.

Legal databases

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service has published judgments of the Sheriff Courts, Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary on its website since September 1998. Two separate searches are available covering the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary and the Sheriff Courts. Access to these judgments is free of charge.

Judgments are available from the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords from 14th November 1996 to 30 July 2009. Access to these judgments is free of charge. In October 2009 the Supreme Court replaced the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords and its judgments are available on the Supreme Court website . Access to these judgments is free of charge.

There are also a number of national legal repositories and legal databases available.

The ‘Bailii’ (British and Irish Legal Information Institute) database contains a collection of the decisions from the Court of Session since 1879, the High Court of Justiciary since 1914, the Sheriff Court since 1998 and the House of Lords since 1838. Access to these judgments is free of charge.

Decisions from the following Scottish Tribunals are available by following the links on the 'About Scottish Tribunals' page of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service website below:

  • The Additional Support Needs Tribunal for Scotland
  • The First Tier Tribunal Housing and Property Chamber
  • The Lands Tribunal for Scotland
  • The Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland
  • The Scottish Charity Appeals Panel
  • The Tax Tribunals for Scotland

Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service

Decisions from the NHS Tribunal and National Appeals Panel are available on their individual websites:

NHS Tribunal

NHS Appeal Panel

The Bailii website also contains details of decisions from various United Kingdom tribunals:

  • Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber)
  • Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber)
  • Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber)
  • Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber)
  • First-tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber)
  • First-tier Tribunal (Health Education and Social Care Chamber)
  • First-tier Tribunal (Tax)
  • United Kingdom Competition Appeals Tribunal
  • Nominet UK Dispute Resolution Service
  • Special Immigrations Appeals Commission
  • United Kingdom Employment Appeal Tribunal
  • United Kingdom Financial Services and Markets Tribunals Decisions
  • United Kingdom Asylum and Immigration Tribunal
  • United Kingdom Information Tribunal including the National Security Appeals Panel
  • United Kingdom Special Commissioners of Income Tax Decisions
  • UK Social Security and Child Support Commissioners' Decisions
  • United Kingdom VAT & Duties Tribunals Decisions
    • United Kingdom VAT & Duties Tribunals (Customs) Decisions
    • United Kingdom VAT & Duties Tribunals (Excise) Decisions
    • United Kingdom VAT & Duties Tribunals (Insurance Premium Tax) Decisions
    • United Kingdom VAT & Duties Tribunals (Landfill Tax) Decisions

Related Links

Bailii

House of Lords

Bailii website

Supreme Court website

House of Lords

Scottish Court and Tribunals Service

Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary

Sheriff Courts

Last update: 30/04/2019

The national language version of this page is maintained by the respective Member State. The translations have been done by the European Commission service. Possible changes introduced in the original by the competent national authority may not be yet reflected in the translations. The European Commission accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to any information or data contained or referred to in this document. Please refer to the legal notice to see copyright rules for the Member State responsible for this page.