{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/act-of-sederunt-messengers-at-arms-and-sheriff-officers-rules-1988/article-7",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/act-of-sederunt-messengers-at-arms-and-sheriff-officers-rules-1988/article-7.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/1988/2097",
  "legislation_title": "Act of Sederunt (Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers Rules) 1988",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/act-of-sederunt-messengers-at-arms-and-sheriff-officers-rules-1988",
  "path": "article/7",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "7",
  "heading": "Applications for recommendation for commission as messenger-at-arms",
  "text": "(1) An application by a sheriff officer for recommendation for a commission as a messenger-at-arms under section 77(1) of the Act of 1987 shall be by petition presented to the Outer House of the Court of Session in form 1 and signed by the petitioner or his solicitor.\n(2) There shall be lodged with a petition under paragraph (1) of this rule—\n(a) an inventory of productions;\n(b) a copy of the entry in the Register of Births relating to the petitioner;\n(c) a certificate from the Society that the petitioner has passed the examinations set by the committee of examiners of the Society; and\n(d) a certificate from another officer of court specifying the period that the petitioner has been in practice as a sheriff officer.\n(3) A petition under paragraph (1) to this rule shall not require a process and shall not be intimated on the walls of court, served or advertised.\n(4) Where the court grants the prayer of such a petition, the clerk of the Petition Department of the Court of Session shall send a copy of the petition, with the interlocutor granting the prayer written on it, to the Lyon clerk.\n(5) The Lord Lyon shall not issue a commission to a sheriff officer as a messenger-at-arms until the sheriff officer has lodged with the Lyon clerk—\n(a) a copy letter of receipt issued by a regional sheriff clerk in respect of the bond of caution required under rule 9 below; and\n(b) a copy letter of receipt issued by a regional sheriff clerk in respect of a copy premium receipt from an insurance company for professional indemnity insurance required under rule 11(1)(a) below.\n(6) When the Lord Lyon issues a sheriff officer with a commission as a messenger-at-arms under section 77(1) of the Act of 1987, he shall administer to the sheriff officer the oath or declaration of allegiance to the Sovereign.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1988/2097/article/7",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T15:53:48.933597+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}