The Scottish Civil Justice Council has today issued a public consultation on modernising the procedure used when applying the signet seal to a document. 

Every year up to 1,000 ordinary civil actions will be initiated by lodging a summons with the Court of Session.  By tradition those documents are raised in the name of the King and to be legally valid they are required to have “passed the signet”. In law that phrase refers to a document being signed by the court on the Kings behalf. At present that form of signing is confirmed by applying a written docquet; which is a very brief statement in writing that is added to the original summons before it is returned to the pursuer. The proposal is for the Court of Session to now issue a one page court order that will include a visible image of the signet (a digital watermark) to confirm that it was signed on the sovereigns’ behalf.

The Council would welcome feedback from all those with a view on how the court grants its authority to serve a document on a defender; as well as those with a general interest in the long standing tradition involved when applying the signet seal.

Notes for Editors
1. The consultation paper, and accompanying impact assessments, can be viewed via the consultation page on the Councils website:

https://www.scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk/consultations/scjc-consultations

2. This consultation will be open for 12 weeks. The closing date for responses is 26 February 2025.