The aim in making the decisions of the court more accessible to the public are to: provide transparency on the reasons why a particular decision was made by the judiciary; and to reduce the risk of those decisions being misinterpreted.

To support that outcome, this Act of Sederunt introduces a ‘style template’ for sheriffs to refer to when preparing a written judgment and provides guidance on the likely content expected under each of the prescribed headings. Enabling that more consistent layout of each written judgment will improve the overall quality of the judgments that can be viewed online.

Notes for Editors

1.The Act of Sederunt can be viewed online at:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2026/246/contents/made

2. The decisions of the court can be viewed online via the judgment’s webpage on the SCTS website:

 https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/judgments/#/