Part 21: Glossary
Scotland
| 21.1 | What is this Part about? | |
|---|---|---|
| (1) | This Part contains a guide for litigants, lay representatives and courtroom supporters to the meaning of certain legal words and expressions used in these rules. | |
| Word or expression | Meaning | |
| Additional respondent | A person who is not named as a respondent by the claimant in the Claim Form but who enters the case later. | |
| Admitting a claim | Where the respondent accepts the claim made by the claimant, including the things which the claimant wants from the respondent. | |
| Appeal | Asking the Sheriff Appeal Court to reverse or vary the decision of a sheriff on a point of law. | |
| Application | A way for a party to ask the court to do something by sending it and other parties a written application in a special form. | |
| Arrestment on the dependence | An order freezing the respondent's funds or good held by a third party (typically money held in a bank account), in advance of the sheriff making a decision in a case. | |
| Case management discussion | An informal discussion of how a case is progressing, involving the sheriff and the parties. | |
| Cite a witness | Demand that a witness attend a hearing by an officer of court formally serving a Witness Citation Notice. | |
| Claim | The things which the claimant wants from the respondent. | |
| Claimant | The person making a claim. | |
| Courtroom supporter | A person who may accompany a party in court to provide moral support. | |
| Decision | The final order which the sheriff makes about the merits of a case, setting out who has been successful. | |
| Discussion | A discussion of a particular issue (such as an application), involving the sheriff and the parties, which may take place in court. | |
| Dismissing a claim | An order by the sheriff ending the case without deciding which party has been successful. | |
| Expenses | The contribution the court can order one party to make towards how much it costs another party to conduct a case. | |
| Formal service | The formal process of sending a copy of a court document to a party or other person. | |
| Hearing | An appearance by both parties in court at which witnesses and evidence can be considered and the sheriff will make a decision. | |
| Last date for a response | The date by which the Respondent must F1respond to the claim by sending a Response Form to the court and to the claimant, or respond to the claim by sending a Time to Pay Application to the court. | |
| Last date for service | The date by which the Claim Form must be formally served on the respondent. | |
| Lay representative | A representative who is not a lawyer. | |
| Legal representative | A representative who is a lawyer. | |
| Lodge | To deposit documents and other evidence to the sheriff clerk before a hearing, for their use at that hearing. | |
| Order | A direction given by the sheriff to the parties telling them what they must do or what will happen next in a case. | |
| Party | A person involved on one side of a simple procedure case – either a claimant or a respondent. | |
| Pause | Temporarily suspend the progress of a case. | |
| Portal on the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service website | The portal for conducting a simple procedure case at http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/. | |
| Principles of simple procedure | The 5 principles listed in rule 1.2. | |
| Provisional order | An order which protects or secures a claimant's position before a hearing, such as freezing a sum of money in the respondent's bank account. | |
| Recall | An order cancelling a decision made by the sheriff. | |
| Representative | A person who assists a party and speaks on their behalf in court, who may be either a legal representative or a lay representative. | |
| Respondent | The person a claim is made against. | |
| Response | The respondent's reasons why the claim should not be successful. | |
| Restart | Resuming the progress of a paused case. | |
| Send | Sending something in a way provided for in Part 6 of the rules. | |
| Sheriff | The judge who will decide a simple procedure case. | |
| Sheriff clerk | A court official who provides administrative support to the sheriff. | |
| Sheriff officer | A court officer who may formally serve court documents. | |
| Simple procedure case | A claim which is registered by the sheriff clerk. | |
| F2Statutory intervener | A statutory body with the power to intervene in a simple procedure case. | |
| Timetable | The dates by which the first two steps that the parties must take in a simple procedure case are to be completed – the last date for service and the last date for a response. | |
| Time to pay | An order giving the respondent time to pay the claimant in instalments or in a deferred lump sum. | |
| Trading name | A name under which a person, partnership or company carries out its business. | |
Annotations
Textual amendments
- F1
Words in sch. 1 rule 21.1(1) substituted (30.7.2018) by Act of Sederunt (Simple Procedure Amendment) (Miscellaneous) 2018 (S.S.I. 2018/191), paras. 1(2), 2(2)(o)
- F2
Words in sch. 1 rule 21.1(1) inserted (1.1.2025) by Act of Sederunt (Rules of the Court of Session 1994, Sheriff Appeal Court Rules 2021 and Sheriff Court Rules Amendment) (Statutory Interveners) 2024 (S.S.I. 2024/353), paras. 1(2), 7(5)
Notes on Schedule 1
Modifications
- C1
Sch. 1 modified (temp.) (1.12.2020) by Act of Sederunt (Simple Procedure Amendment) (Civil Online) 2020 (S.S.I. 2020/293), paras. 1(2), 2(3) (with para. 1(3))