The Scottish Civil Justice Council has published its fifth Annual Report, which outlines its achievements, accounts and a summary of the rules prepared during the last year.

Writing his foreword as Council Chair, the Lord President, the Rt. Hon. Lord Carloway, charted the Council’s continued work on civil court reform and noted the wide range of subject matters in which it has developed new rules.

Lord Carloway said: “Throughout this reporting year the Council has continued to support the wider programme of civil court reform. The Council is currently evaluating the user experiences of the ‘core’ Simple Procedure Rules, before it brings the ‘special claim’ Simple Procedure Rules into force. The Council is moving ahead with the Rules Rewrite Project, which is designed to consolidate, harmonise and simplify the rules of the civil courts in Scotland.

“A number of key areas of civil practice are being considered by specialist working groups. The Council is grateful for the support it has received from legal practitioners and other court users in this important project.

“Meanwhile, the Council continues to respond to requests for rules to implement new legislation or policy initiatives. The work which the Council has done over the last year can be seen in the Report.

“New rules, and amendments to existing rules, have been drafted in a diverse range of subject matters, from competition law to human trafficking. No less than 17 sets of draft rules have been prepared and made into law by the Court of Session.”

The Council’s Annual Report 2017-18 has been published together with the Annual Programme of Work for 2018-19, which details how it will deliver its priorities for the next reporting year.

For more detailed information see our Annual Report 2017-18.