Civil justice statistics in Scotland: 2017-2018

5. Statistical tables

Table 1: Civil law cases initiated and disposed of ¹ in the Court of Session ² , sheriff courts ³ and Sheriff Personal Injury Court ⁴ , 2008-09 to 2017-18

Table 2: Cases initiated and disposed of ¹ in the Court of Session, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Table 3: Cases ¹ initiated and disposed of ² in the sheriff courts ³ , by procedure, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Table 4: Cases ¹ initiated and disposed of ² in the sheriff courts ³ , by sheriffdom, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Table 5: Family procedure cases ¹ initiated and disposed of ² in the civil courts ³ , by case type, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Table 6: Family procedure cases initiated and disposed ¹ of in the Court of Session ² , by case type 2017-18

Table 7: Family procedure cases initiated and disposed ¹ of in the sheriff courts, by case type 2017-18

Table 8: Family-related summary application cases initiated and disposed of ^1,2 , by case type and final disposal, 2017-18

Table 9: Divorces granted ¹ in the civil courts by procedure, 2011-12 to 2017-18

Table 10: Dissolutions granted ¹ in the civil courts by procedure, 2011-12 to 2017-18

Table 11: Debt cases initiated and disposed of ¹ in the civil courts, by case type, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Table 12: Debt cases initiated and disposed of ¹ in the civil courts, by case type and final disposal, 2017-18

Table 13: Personal injury cases initiated and disposed of ¹ in the civil courts ² , by case type, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Table 14: Personal injury cases ¹ initiated and disposed ² of in the Court of Session ³ , 2017-18

Table 15: Ordinary cause personal injury cases initiated and disposed of ^1,2 in the sheriff courts ³ , 2017-18

Table 16: Summary cause personal injury cases initiated and disposed of ¹ in the sheriff courts ² , 2017-18

Table 17: Civil law cases initiated and disposed of ^1,2 in the Sheriff Personal Injury Court ³ , 2015-16 to 2017-18

Table 18: Damages cases initiated and disposed of ¹ in the civil courts, by case type, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Table 19: Damages cases initiated and disposed of ¹ in the civil courts, by case type and final disposal, 2017-18

Table 20: Repossession cases initiated and disposed of ¹ in the sheriff courts, by procedure, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Table 21: Summary application repossession cases initiated and disposed of ^1,2 in the sheriff courts, by case type and final disposal, 2017-18

Table 22: Eviction cases initiated and disposed of ¹ in the sheriff courts, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Table 23: Summary cause eviction cases initiated and disposed of ^1,2 in the sheriff courts, by case type and final disposal, 2017-18

Table 24: Petitions for judicial review initiated and disposed of ^1,2 in the Petition Department of the Court of Session, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Table 25: Civil law appeals initiated and disposed of ¹ in the Sheriff Appeal Court ² , 2015-16 to 2017-18

Table 26: Civil law applications ¹ to the Court of Session for permission (leave) to appeal to UK Supreme Court, 2015-16 to 2017-18

Table 27: Civil law cases initiated in the Court of Session ¹ , sheriff courts ² and Sheriff Personal Injury Court ³ , 2008-09 to 2017-18

Table 28: Civil Legal Aid Grants ^{1, 2} , 2012-13 to 2017-18

Table 1: Civil law cases initiated and disposed of in the Court of Session, sheriff courts and Sheriff Personal Injury Court, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Cases		2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	% change since 2016-17	% change since 2008-09
Initiated	Court of Session	5,329	6,102	5,141	4,718	4,911	4,561	5,164	4,358	2,251	2,279	1	-57
	Sheriff courts	126,304	111,737	92,308	80,502	72,510	72,511	71,605	72,220	68,433	75,623	11	-40
	Sheriff Personal Injury Court	z	z	z	z	z	z	z	1,143	2,956	3,282	11	z
	All courts	131,633	117,839	97,449	85,220	77,421	77,072	76,769	77,721	73,640	81,184	10	-38
Disposed	Court of Session	4,022	4,356	4,295	4,856	4,712	4,911	4,782	4,405	3,162	2,564	-19	-36
	Sheriff courts	111,541	104,831	87,504	77,147	68,781	65,356	65,805	66,232	62,370	63,994	3	-43
	Sheriff Personal Injury Court	z	z	z	z	z	z	z	172	1,363	2,541	86	z
	All courts	115,563	109,187	91,799	82,003	73,493	70,267	70,587	70,809	66,895	69,099	3	-40

1. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

2. First instance business only – excludes appeals and reclaiming motions.

3. Excludes summary applications.

4. Sheriff Personal Injury Court was established on 22 September 2015.

5. z refers to data not being applicable.

Table 2: Cases initiated and disposed of in the Court of Session, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Court of Session department	Cases	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	% change since 2016-17	% change since 2008-09
General Department	Initiated	3,736	4,429	3,688	3,354	3,536	3,258	3,812	2,922	1,005	933	-7	-75
	Disposed	2,961	3,167	3,187	3,455	3,405	3,656	3,582	3,123	1,871	1,234	-34	-58
Petition Department	Initiated	1,473	1,555	1,358	1,223	1,211	1,179	1,213	1,268	1,083	1,201	11	-18
	Disposed	988	1,094	1,035	1,299	1,191	1,126	1,062	1,136	1,157	1,186	3	20
Inner House2	Initiated	120	118	95	141	164	124	139	168	163	145	-11	21
	Disposed	73	95	73	102	116	129	138	146	134	144	7	97
Total	Initiated	5,329	6,102	5,141	4,718	4,911	4,561	5,164	4,358	2,251	2,279	1	-57
	Disposed	4,022	4,356	4,295	4,856	4,712	4,911	4,782	4,405	3,162	2,564	-19	-36

1. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

2. First instance business only – excludes appeals and reclaiming motions.

Table 3: Cases initiated and disposed of in the sheriff courts, by procedure, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Cases	Procedure	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	% change since 2016-17	% change since 2008-09
Initiated	Ordinary cause	46,477	42,823	34,123	26,021	24,957	24,026	23,628	23,212	22,672	22,620	0	-51
	Summary cause4	32,736	27,464	23,799	22,783	18,510	18,852	20,624	22,160	20,214	18,057	-11	-45
	Small claim4, 5	47,091	41,450	34,386	31,698	29,043	29,633	27,353	26,848	18,857	32	-100	-100
	Simple procedure4	z	z	z	z	z	z	z	z	6,690	34,914	z	z
	Total initiated	126,304	111,737	92,308	80,502	72,510	72,511	71,605	72,220	68,433	75,623	11	-40
Disposed	Ordinary cause	38,902	33,911	29,768	23,410	20,733	19,575	18,768	19,102	17,210	16,123	-6	-59
	Summary cause4	31,231	27,568	24,036	22,434	19,831	17,876	18,984	20,638	20,557	16,647	-19	-47
	Small claim	41,408	43,352	33,700	31,303	28,217	27,905	28,053	26,492	23,571	1,327	-94	-97
	Simple procedure4	z	z	z	z	z	z	z	z	1,032	29,897	z	z
	Total disposed	111,541	104,831	87,504	77,147	68,781	65,356	65,805	66,232	62,370	63,994	3	-43

1. Excludes summary applications.

2. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

3. Excludes Sheriff Personal Injury Court.

4. The first phase of simple procedure replaced the small claims and the more straightforward cases under summary cause procedure from 28 November 2016. More complex summary cause cases will move during phase two of simple procedure in due course.

5. There are still a small number of small claims cases being registered, mainly under the EU small claims procedure.

Table 4: Cases initiated and disposed of in the sheriff courts, by sheriffdom, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Cases	Sheriffdom	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	% change since 2016-17	% change since 2008-09	2017-18 cases per 1,000 population4
Initiated	Tayside, Central and Fife	22,456	20,204	16,816	14,759	14,006	13,590	13,806	13,478	12,263	14,163	15	-37	13
	Glasgow and Strathkelvin	24,919	22,389	17,784	16,305	14,313	13,433	11,517	11,853	12,514	14,074	12	-44	19
	South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	22,949	19,457	16,869	14,171	12,968	12,870	12,929	14,028	13,404	14,337	7	-38	16
	Lothian and Borders	24,469	21,439	16,211	14,148	11,554	11,755	13,022	12,552	11,016	12,587	14	-49	13
	North Strathclyde	17,177	14,907	12,954	10,577	9,932	10,447	10,096	10,286	9,715	10,521	8	-39	13
	Grampian, Highlands and Islands	14,334	13,341	11,674	10,542	9,737	10,416	10,235	10,023	9,521	9,941	4	-31	11
	Scotland total initiated	126,304	111,737	92,308	80,502	72,510	72,511	71,605	72,220	68,433	75,623	11	-40	14
Disposed	Tayside, Central and Fife	20,160	18,730	16,081	14,343	13,268	12,476	12,782	13,079	11,504	12,434	8	-38	11
	Glasgow and Strathkelvin	21,315	20,059	16,134	15,630	13,544	11,828	10,303	10,139	9,961	11,879	19	-44	16
	South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	20,829	18,759	15,979	13,749	12,466	11,801	11,655	12,524	12,022	12,244	2	-41	14
	Lothian and Borders	20,384	20,948	15,957	13,494	11,595	11,029	11,700	11,538	10,435	9,528	-9	-53	9
	North Strathclyde	15,687	13,455	12,218	9,921	8,803	8,949	9,590	9,358	8,911	8,985	1	-43	11
	Grampian, Highlands and Islands	13,166	12,880	11,135	10,010	9,105	9,273	9,775	9,594	9,537	8,924	-6	-32	10
	Scotland total disposed	111,541	104,831	87,504	77,147	68,781	65,356	65,805	66,232	62,370	63,994	3	-43	12

1. Excludes summary applications.

2. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

3. Excludes Sheriff Personal Injury Court.

4. Based on mid-2017 small area population estimates produced by National Records of Scotland.

Table 5: Family procedure cases initiated and disposed of in the civil courts, by case type, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Cases	Case type	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	% change since 2016-17	% change since 2008-09
Initiated	Divorce / dissolution	11,752	11,159	11,018	10,678	10,355	10,573	10,301	9,981	10,112	9,459	-6	-20
	Parental responsibilities & rights	2,364	2,742	2,713	2,272	2,751	2,479	2,587	2,240	2,433	2,416	-1	2
	Interdict	381	409	262	329	370	352	292	278	265	310	17	-19
	Aliment	82	88	89	69	58	77	65	49	46	48	4	-41
	Exclusion order	7	18	26	14	14	16	19	14	10	8	-20	14
	Nullity of marriage / civil partnership	0	0	2	1	0	0	1	0	1	1	0	z
	Other	250	317	386	316	314	356	340	330	383	410	7	64
	Total initiated	14,836	14,733	14,496	13,679	13,862	13,853	13,605	12,892	13,250	12,652	-5	-15
Disposed	Divorce / dissolution	11,538	10,750	10,115	9,879	9,571	9,809	9,349	9,390	8,415	7,222	-14	-37
	Parental responsibilities & rights	1,276	1,416	1,596	1,542	1,638	1,634	1,575	1,613	1,624	1,738	7	36
	Interdict	93	134	140	137	166	146	152	158	146	156	7	68
	Aliment	55	46	50	64	32	54	40	36	40	31	-23	-44
	Exclusion order	11	4	8	6	6	8	4	8	6	5	-17	-55
	Nullity of marriage / civil partnership	0	0	2	2	0	1	0	1	2	0	-100	z
	Other	177	198	216	234	210	228	203	236	231	283	23	60
	Total disposed	13,150	12,548	12,127	11,864	11,623	11,880	11,323	11,442	10,464	9,435	-10	-28

1. Excludes family-related summary application cases, which are shown separately in Table 8.

2. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

3. Includes Court of Session and sheriff courts.

4. z refers to data not being applicable.

Table 6: Family procedure cases initiated and disposed of in the Court of Session, by case type, 2017-18

Case type		Initiated	Disposed	Disposed
				Absolvitor	Dismissed		For pursuer		Expenses only		Other
					Defended	Undefended	Defended	Undefended	Defended	Undefended
Aliment		0	2	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Divorce / dissolution		77	59	0	4	1	8	16	0	0	30
	Ordinary divorce	47	31	0	4	1	8	16	0	0	2
	Simplified divorce	29	27	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	27
	Ordinary dissolution	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Simplified dissolution	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Exclusion order3		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Interdict		4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Nullity of marriage / civil partnership		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Parental responsibilities & rights		2	5	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	2
	Contact	2	3	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1
	Residence	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
	Other	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other		4	11	4	1	0	1	5	0	0	0
Total		87	78	4	8	2	9	22	0	0	33

1. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

2. First instance business only – excludes appeals and reclaiming motions.

3. Exclusion orders which suspend the right of a spouse, civil partner or cohabitant to occupy the family home.

Table 7: Family procedure cases initiated and disposed of in the sheriff courts, by case type, 2017-18

Case type		Initiated	Disposed	Disposed
				Absolvitor	For pursuer		Granted	Dismissed3	Expenses only3	Other
					Defended	Undefended
Aliment		48	29	1	6	2	0	19	0	1
Divorce / dissolution		9,382	7,163	0	239	2,389	4,226	287	1	21
	Ordinary divorce	3,852	2,750	0	239	2,384	0	105	1	21
	Simplified divorce	5,452	4,352	0	0	0	4,171	181	0	0
	Ordinary dissolution	13	5	0	0	5	0	0	0	0
	Simplified dissolution	65	56	0	0	0	55	1	0	0
Exclusion order2		8	5	0	1	1	0	3	0	0
Interdict		306	155	1	36	50	1	63	0	4
Nullity of marriage / civil partnership		1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Parental responsibilities & rights		2,414	1,733	3	554	452	58	580	1	85
	Contact	1,196	824	1	316	70	7	396	1	33
	Residence	805	554	2	158	196	50	109	0	39
	Other	413	355	0	80	186	1	75	0	13
Other		406	272	17	61	77	1	108	0	8
Total		12,565	9,357	22	897	2,971	4,286	1,060	2	119

1. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

2. Exclusion orders which suspend the right of a spouse, civil partner or cohabitant to occupy the family home.

3. Data from the new case management system is not currently split between 'defended' and 'undefended', therefore these have been combined into a single category.

Table 8: Family-related summary application cases initiated and disposed of, by case type and final disposal, 2017-18

Case type	Initiated	Disposed	Disposed
			Granted	Dismissed	Refused	Other
Adoption Petitions3	533	211	206	4	0	1
Extend/vary interim order4	3,164	643	574	66	1	2
Children’s hearings – appeal4	845	231	63	30	75	63
Children’s hearings – referral4	2,927	1,164	1,060	99	0	5
Children's Hearings Act 2011 - Other5	1,317	431	372	52	6	1
Permanence orders with authority to adopt	388	195	175	19	1	0

1. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

2. The number of summary application cases disposed of is likely an underestimate. For more information see the Civil Justice Statistics in Scotland 2017-18 bulletin (section 4.4).

3. Adoption petitions include both family adoptions and adoptions from care. Statistics on adoptions from care are available from Children's Social Work Statistics additional tables (see www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Children/PubChildrenSocialWork).

4. These case types represent equivalent actions from the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 and the Children's Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011. The statistics reported here differ from those reported by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration due to differences in definition and timing.

5. "Other" includes Child Protection Order, Child Support, Child Assessment Order as well as a range of miscellaneous cases.

Table 9: Divorces granted in the civil courts by procedure, 2011-12 to 2017-18

Year	Court	Ordinary	Simplified	Total
2017-18	Court of Session	32	26	58
	Sheriff courts2	2,644	4,171	6,815
	Total	2,676	4,197	6,873
2016-17	Court of Session	38	36	74
	Sheriff courts2	3,088	4,776	7,864
	Total	3,126	4,812	7,938
2015-16	Court of Session	35	69	104
	Sheriff courts	3,301	5,470	8,771
	Total	3,336	5,539	8,875
2014-15	Court of Session	24	74	98
	Sheriff courts	3,365	5,573	8,938
	Total	3,389	5,647	9,036
2013-14	Court of Session	28	52	80
	Sheriff courts	3,692	5,854	9,546
	Total	3,720	5,906	9,626
2012-13	Court of Session	34	73	107
	Sheriff courts	3,940	5,647	9,587
	Total	3,974	5,720	9,694
2011-12	Court of Session	26	75	101
	Sheriff courts	4,053	5,749	9,802
	Total	4,079	5,824	9,903

1. The statistics in this table and Table 10 do not equal the total number of disposals for divorce and dissolution shown in Table 6

2. Sheriff courts statistics for 2016-17 and 2017-18 are provisional, and similarly total divorces granted for the same period. These may be subject to change in due course.

Table 10: Dissolutions granted in the civil courts by procedure, 2011-12 to 2017-18

Year	Court	Ordinary	Simplified	Total
2017-18	Court of Session	0	1	1
	Sheriff courts2	5	55	60
	Total	5	56	61
2016-17	Court of Session	0	5	5
	Sheriff courts2	3	75	78
	Total	3	80	83
2015-16	Court of Session	1	2	3
	Sheriff courts	5	88	93
	Total	6	90	96
2014-15	Court of Session	0	2	2
	Sheriff courts	3	76	79
	Total	3	78	81
2013-14	Court of Session	0	3	3
	Sheriff courts	7	51	58
	Total	7	54	61
2012-13	Court of Session	0	3	3
	Sheriff courts	4	60	64
	Total	4	63	67
2011-12	Court of Session	0	3	3
	Sheriff courts	3	40	43
	Total	3	43	46

1. The statistics in this table and Table 9 do not equal the total number of disposals for divorce and dissolution shown in Table 6

2. Sheriff courts statistics for 2016-17 and 2017-18 are provisional, and similarly total divorces granted for the same period. These may be subject to change in due course.

Table 11: Debt cases initiated and disposed of in the civil courts, by case type, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Cases	Procedure	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	% change since 2016-17	% change since 2008-09
Initiated	Court of Session2	23	1	4	8	6	5	70	8	6	14	133	-39
	Sheriff: ordinary cause	14,669	12,054	9,200	6,944	5,487	4,586	4,407	5,342	4,483	5,012	12	-66
	Sheriff: commercial	400	318	223	266	222	241	378	335	259	249	-4	-38
	Sheriff: summary cause3	7,157	5,307	4,415	3,922	3,381	3,114	3,258	3,896	2,336	5	-100	-100
	Sheriff: small claim3, 4	43,549	38,251	31,533	29,110	26,803	27,444	25,642	25,338	17,522	7	-100	-100
	Sheriff: simple procedure3	z	z	z	z	z	z	z	z	5,961	32,077	z	z
	Total initiated	65,798	55,931	45,375	40,250	35,899	35,390	33,755	34,919	30,567	37,364	22	-43
Disposed	Court of Session2	28	16	2	2	2	6	4	8	13	8	-38	-71
	Sheriff: ordinary cause	12,553	10,150	7,729	5,885	4,534	3,566	3,520	3,902	3,560	3,356	-6	-73
	Sheriff: commercial	252	231	166	175	117	143	303	222	183	162	-11	-36
	Sheriff: summary cause3	7,097	5,772	4,337	3,884	3,324	2,906	3,199	3,490	3,024	284	-91	-96
	Sheriff: small claim3, 4	38,594	40,347	31,026	28,934	26,023	25,876	26,319	24,953	22,149	1,214	-95	-97
	Sheriff: simple procedure3	z	z	z	z	z	z	z	z	962	27,549	z	z
	Total disposed	58,524	56,516	43,260	38,880	34,000	32,497	33,345	32,575	29,891	32,573	9	-44

1. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

2. First instance business only – excludes appeals and reclaiming motions.

3. The first phase of simple procedure replaced the small claims and the more straightforward cases under summary cause procedure from 28 November 2016. More complex summary cause cases will move during phase two of simple procedure in due course.

4. There are still a small number of small claims cases being registered mainly under the EU small claims procedure.

Table 12: Debt cases initiated and disposed of in the civil courts, by case type and final disposal, 2017-18

Case type	Initiated	Disposed	Absolvitor	Disposed
				For pursuer		Decree by default	Dismissed2	Expenses only2	Other
				Defended	Undefended
Court of Session3	14	8	5	0	0	0	2	0	1
Sheriff: ordinary cause	5,012	3,356	410	190	2,221	46	466	0	23
Sheriff: commercial	249	162	31	13	97	3	18	0	0
Sheriff: summary cause4	5	284	39	37	82	3	115	0	8
Sheriff: small claim4	7	1,214	102	94	392	10	602	0	14
Sheriff: simple procedure4	32,077	27,549	537	1,326	17,607	1	7,862	198	18
Total	37,364	32,573	1,124	1,660	20,399	63	9,065	198	64

1. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

2. Data from the new case management system is not currently split between 'defended' and 'undefended', therefore these have been combined into a single category.

3. First instance business only – excludes appeals and reclaiming motions.

4. The first phase of simple procedure replaced the small claims and the more straightforward cases under summary cause procedure from 28 November 2016. More complex summary cause cases will move during phase two of simple procedure in due course.

Table 13: Personal injury cases initiated and disposed of in the civil courts, by case type, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Cases	Case type	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	% change since 2016-17	% change since 2008-09
Initiated	Road traffic accident	3,441	4,635	5,790	4,613	5,106	4,770	5,143	4,897	4,955	5,492	11	60
	Accident at work	1,921	1,844	1,802	1,750	1,758	1,797	1,817	1,721	1,480	1,547	5	-19
	Clinical negligence	173	189	207	222	203	262	629	388	351	901	157	421
	Asbestos3	242	541	345	294	436	320	458	413	470	568	21	135
	Other3	1,211	2,557	955	931	1,190	1,138	1,163	1,347	1,122	935	-17	-23
	Total initiated	6,988	9,766	9,099	7,810	8,693	8,287	9,210	8,766	8,378	9,443	13	35
Disposed	Road traffic accident	1,588	2,977	4,607	4,619	4,130	3,893	3,970	4,197	3,630	4,382	21	176
	Accident at work	1,343	1,596	1,529	1,627	1,570	1,653	1,623	1,560	1,205	1,328	10	-1
	Clinical negligence	32	104	124	133	154	178	195	238	232	231	0	622
	Asbestos3	214	181	168	216	365	598	633	430	531	589	11	175
	Other3	2,193	1,343	1,074	1,775	1,444	1,079	941	1,108	994	867	-13	-60
	Total disposed	5,370	6,201	7,502	8,370	7,663	7,401	7,362	7,533	6,592	7,397	12	38

1. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

2. Includes Court of Session, sheriff courts and Sheriff Personal Injury Court.

3. Pleural plaques figures were incorrectly included within the 'Other' category instead of 'Asbestos' for 2015-16 and 2016-17. The data has now been corrected.

Table 14: Personal injury cases¹ initiated and disposed² of in the Court of Session³, 2017-18

Case type	Initiated	Disposed	Disposed
			Absolvitor	Dismissed		For pursuer		Expenses only		Other
				Defended	Undefended	Defended	Undefended	Defended	Undefended
Road traffic accident	116	130	99	1	0	24	1	0	0	5
Accident at work4	94	137	104	0	0	22	1	1	0	9
Clinical negligence	144	121	93	3	0	22	0	0	0	3
Asbestos5	108	218	169	2	0	38	1	0	0	8
Other6	52	78	59	2	1	8	3	0	0	5
Total	514	684	524	8	1	114	6	1	0	30

1. These statistics relate to cases that use personal injury procedure and standard ordinary cause procedure.

2. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

3. First instance business only – excludes appeals and reclaiming motions.

4. Accident at work includes vibration white finger and repetitive strain injury.

5. Asbestos includes all asbestos related conditions like asbestosis, pleural plaques, pleural thickening and mesothelioma.

6. Relative's claim is now included within 'Other'.

Table 15: Ordinary cause personal injury cases initiated and disposed of in the sheriff courts, 2017-18

Case type	Initiated	Disposed	Disposed
			Absolvitor	For pursuer		Decree by default	Dismissed4	Other
				Defended	Undefended
Road traffic accident	1,740	1,253	392	720	83	5	46	7
Accident at work	118	131	78	38	4	0	10	1
Clinical negligence	58	59	42	6	1	0	10	0
Asbestos	5	7	3	3	0	0	1	0
Slip, trip or fall	176	105	58	35	4	0	7	1
Other	117	162	76	60	5	1	20	0
Total	2,214	1,717	649	862	97	6	94	9

1. From 2 November 2009 personal injury cases with a claim amount of more than £5,000 are raised under an ordinary cause - personal injury court procedure. All personal injury cases with a claim amount of more than £5,000 are shown in the table above, irrespective of the procedure used.

2. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

3. Excludes Sheriff Personal Injury Court.

4. Data from the new case management system is not currently split between 'defended' and 'undefended', therefore these have been combined into a single category.

Table 16: Summary cause personal injury cases initiated and disposed of in the sheriff courts, 2017-18

Case type	Initiated	Disposed	Disposed
			Absolvitor	For pursuer		Decree by default	Dismissed3	Other
				Defended	Undefended
Road traffic accident	2,600	2,255	541	684	236	3	602	189
Accident at work	63	54	26	17	2	0	6	3
Clinical negligence	616	2	2	0	0	0	0	0
Asbestos	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Slip, trip or fall	69	56	35	14	1	0	6	0
Other	85	87	40	18	11	0	12	6
Total	3,433	2,455	645	733	250	3	626	198

1. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

2. Excludes Sheriff Personal Injury Court.

3. Data from the new case management system is not currently split between 'defended' and 'undefended', therefore these have been combined into a single category.

Table 17: Civil law cases initiated and disposed of in the Sheriff Personal Injury Court, 2015-16 to 2017-18

Case Type	Initiated			Disposed
	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18
Road traffic accident	313	832	1,036	72	438	744
Accident at work4	469	1,153	1,272	75	555	1,006
Clinical negligence	30	105	83	1	29	49
Asbestos5	124	370	455	0	110	363
Slip, Trip or Fall	0	86	208	0	6	115
Other6	207	410	228	24	225	264
Total	1,143	2,956	3,282	172	1,363	2,541

1. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

2. Includes cases initiated and disposed within Personal Injury Chapter 36A.

3. Sheriff Personal Injury Court was established on 22 September 2015.

4. Accident at work includes vibration white finger and repetitive strain injury.

5. Asbestos include all asbestos related conditions like pleural plaques, mesothelioma, asbestosis and pleural thickening.

6. Relative's claim cases are included in 'Other'.

Table 18: Damages cases initiated and disposed of in the civil courts, by case type, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Cases	Procedure	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	% change since 2016-17	% change since 2008-09
Initiated	Court of Session2	337	529	300	367	357	369	286	409	170	146	-14	-57
	Sheriff: ordinary cause	738	791	630	491	496	447	400	412	658	538	-18	-27
	Sheriff: commercial	38	54	163	37	34	51	46	15	25	13	-48	-66
	Sheriff: summary cause3	434	561	453	488	382	441	271	222	292	1	-100	-100
	Sheriff: small claim3	3,080	2,918	2,586	2,364	2,009	1,887	1,348	1,238	1,122	0	-100	-100
	Sheriff: simple procedure3	z	z	z	z	z	z	z	z	543	2,185	z	z
	Total initiated	4,627	4,853	4,132	3,747	3,278	3,195	2,351	2,296	2,810	2,883	3	-38
Disposed	Court of Session2	206	212	315	313	298	359	355	249	212	327	54	59
	Sheriff: ordinary cause	1,415	666	595	675	623	435	304	263	390	423	8	-70
	Sheriff: commercial	29	26	18	30	8	16	24	140	19	10	-47	-66
	Sheriff: summary cause3	410	450	457	452	383	340	287	205	267	41	-85	-90
	Sheriff: small claim3	2,409	2,710	2,397	2,149	1,982	1,758	1,380	1,266	1,239	87	-93	-96
	Sheriff: simple procedure3	z	z	z	z	z	z	z	z	49	1,843	z	z
	Total disposed	4,469	4,064	3,782	3,619	3,294	2,908	2,350	2,123	2,176	2,731	26	-39

1. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

2. Includes ordinary and commercial cases. Data refers to first instance business only - excludes appeals and reclaiming motions.

3. The first phase of simple procedure replaced the small claims and the more straightforward cases under summary cause procedure from 28 November 2016. More complex summary cause cases will move during phase two of simple procedure in due course.

4. z refers to data not being applicable.

Table 19: Damages cases initiated and disposed of in the civil courts, by case type and final disposal, 2017-18

Court type	Case type	Initiated	Disposed	Disposed
				Absolvitor	For Pursuer		Dismissed2	Expenses Only2	Other
					Defended	Undefended
Court of Session3	Ordinary	104	184	113	4	6	11	0	50
	Commercial	42	143	125	5	2	9	0	2
	Court of Session total	146	327	238	9	8	20	0	52
Sheriff courts	Small claim4	0	87	57	11	4	15	0	0
	Ordinary cause	538	423	182	98	41	96	0	6
	Summary cause4	1	41	19	12	2	6	0	2
	Commercial	13	10	3	6	1	0	0	0
	Simple procedure4	2,185	1,843	618	66	329	796	33	1
	Sheriff courts total	2,737	2,404	879	193	377	913	33	9
Civil courts total		2,883	2,731	1,117	202	385	933	33	61

1. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

2. Data from the new case management system is not currently split between 'defended' and 'undefended', therefore these have been combined into a single category.

3. First instance business only – excludes appeals and reclaiming motions.

4. The first phase of simple procedure replaced the small claims and the more straightforward cases under summary cause procedure from 28 November 2016. More complex summary cause cases will move during phase two of simple procedure in due course.

Table 20: Repossession cases initiated and disposed of in the sheriff courts, by procedure, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Cases	Procedure	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	% change since 2016-17	% change since 2008-09
Initiated	Ordinary cause	10,135	8,256	4,245	79	64	54	67	58	17	0	-100	-100
	Commercial	0	6	4	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	z	z
	Summary application	6	4	975	6,673	5,321	4,715	3,201	1,816	1,736	2,056	18	34,167
	Total initiated	10,141	8,266	5,224	6,752	5,385	4,770	3,268	1,874	1,753	2,056	17	-80
Disposed	Ordinary cause	7,181	6,476	5,083	253	90	74	61	53	26	0	-100	-100
	Commercial	1	4	1	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	z	-100
	Summary application2	0	6	489	3,987	4,003	3,386	2,597	1,570	1,480	1,650	11	z
	Total disposed	7,182	6,486	5,573	4,243	4,093	3,460	2,659	1,623	1,506	1,650	10	-77

1. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

2. The number of summary application cases disposed of is likely to be an underestimate.

3. z refers to data not being applicable.

Table 21: Summary application repossession cases initiated and disposed of in the sheriff courts, by case type and final disposal, 2017-18

Case Type	Initiated	Disposed	Disposed
			Absolvitor	For pursuer		Decree by default	Dismissed	Other3
				Defended	Undefended
Repossession summary application	2,056	1,650	6	163	881	29	554	17

1. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

2. The number of cases disposed of is likely to be an underestimate.

3. Includes cases disposed as refused, dropped from roll and withdrawn.

Table 22: Eviction cases initiated and disposed of in the sheriff courts, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Cases	Procedure	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	% change since 2016-17	% change since 2008-09
Initiated	Summary cause	19,944	16,528	14,160	13,979	10,532	11,778	13,750	14,690	14,304	14,604	2	-27
Disposed	Summary cause	19,191	16,986	14,906	13,972	12,358	11,613	12,892	13,905	14,459	13,776	-5	-28

1. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

Table 23: Summary cause eviction cases initiated and disposed of in the sheriff courts, by case type and final disposal, 2017-18

Case Type	Initiated	Disposed	Disposed
			Absolvitor	For pursuer		Decree by default	Dismissed3	Expenses only3	Other4
				Defended	Undefended
Eviction summary cause	14,604	13,776	12	1,261	7,049	112	5,219	5	118

1. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

2. The number of cases disposed of is likely to be an underestimate.

3. Data from the new case management system is not currently split between 'defended' and 'undefended', therefore these have been combined into a single category.

4. Includes cases disposed as refused, dropped from roll and withdrawn.

Table 24: Petitions for judicial review initiated and disposed of in the Petition Department of the Court of Session, 2008-09 to 2017-18

		2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	% change since 2016-17	% change since 2008-09
Initiated	Judicial review
	Environmental	0	0	2	2	1	3	4	1	3	0	z	z
	Housing	2	1	4	1	0	1	2	13	15	15	0	650
	Immigrants	177	210	266	195	224	231	323	393	262	267	2	51
	Licensing board	0	1	1	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	z	z
	Planning permission	5	10	8	11	8	6	12	7	4	6	50	20
	Prison authorities	18	107	7	3	10	17	17	24	6	20	233	11
	Social security benefits	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	3	5	4	-20	z
	Other	30	49	54	31	48	49	39	55	48	45	-6	50
	Total	232	378	342	243	293	308	399	496	343	357	4	54
Disposed	Judicial review
	Environmental	0	0	1	2	1	2	0	1	1	1	0	z
	Housing	5	1	3	1	0	1	1	7	17	15	-12	200
	Immigrants	153	168	182	267	229	203	229	314	397	308	-22	101
	Licensing board	1	1	0	2	0	1	1	1	0	0	z	-100
	Planning permission	4	7	5	11	12	4	7	12	5	6	20	50
	Prison authorities	15	18	12	95	101	19	10	23	13	24	85	60
	Social security benefits	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	2	5	150	z
	Other	34	32	39	34	26	40	38	43	50	51	2	50
	Total	212	227	242	412	370	270	287	402	485	410	-15	93

1. Changes were made to the case types and final disposals recorded by the Court of Session from 2009-10 which affects the ability to compare petition type.

2. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

3. z refers to data not being applicable.

Table 25: Civil law appeals initiated and disposed of in the Sheriff Appeal Court, 2015-16 to 2017-18

Cases		Initiated			Disposed
		2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18
Appeals from small claim		2	30	9	0	18	18
	Miscellaneous	0	2	0	0	0	2
	Payment	2	28	9	0	18	16
Appeals from summary cause		2	45	43	0	26	38
	Heritable	2	29	27	0	21	25
	Payment	0	13	7	0	5	7
	Personal injury	0	3	6	0	0	5
	Miscellaneous	0	0	3	0	0	1
Appeals from simple procedure		0	0	41	0	0	12
	Debt	0	0	40	0	0	12
	Delivery	0	0	1	0	0	0
Appeals from ordinary cause3		44	175	140	3	100	118
	Debt	23	40	35	2	38	29
	Family	8	45	44	0	27	35
	Personal injury	3	14	4	1	5	11
	Commercial	2	7	13	0	4	8
	Heritable	1	8	0	0	2	0
	Other	7	61	44	0	24	35
Other appeals4		0	36	53	0	25	49
	Total	48	286	286	3	169	235

1. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

2. The Sheriff Appeal Court (Civil) was established on 1st January 2016.

3. Includes summary applications.

4. Other appeals include adults with incapacity, liquidation, sequestration, proceeds of crime and miscellaneous cases.

Table 26: Civil law applications to the Court of Session for permission (leave) to appeal to UK Supreme Court, 2017-18

Year	Initiated	Disposed	Disposed
			Granted	Refused	Withdrawn
2017-18	20	25	2	23	0
2016-172	41	45	6	35	4
2015-162, 3	16	4	1	3	0

1. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

2. Disposal figures for 2015-16 and 2016-17 were corrected due to an error in recording at the source.

3. Applications relate to the period from 22 September 2015 and therefore do not cover a full financial year.

Table 27: Civil law cases initiated in the Court of Session, sheriff courts and Sheriff Personal Injury Court, 2008-09 to 2017-18

Initiated Cases	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18
Repossession	10,141	8,266	5,224	6,752	5,385	4,770	3,268	1,874	1,753	2,056
Damages	4,627	4,851	4,131	3,684	3,278	3,195	2,351	2,296	2,810	2,883
Personal Injury	6,988	9,766	9,099	7,810	8,693	8,287	9,210	8,766	8,378	9,443
Family	14,836	14,733	14,496	13,679	13,862	13,853	13,605	12,892	13,250	12,652
Eviction	19,944	16,528	14,160	13,979	10,532	11,778	13,750	14,690	14,304	14,604
Debt	65,798	55,931	45,375	40,250	35,899	35,390	33,755	34,919	30,567	37,364
Other	9,305	7,768	5,939	5,739	5,093	4,514	4,031	4,100	4,314	4,238
All cases	131,639	117,843	98,424	91,893	82,742	81,787	79,970	79,537	75,376	83,240

1. Excludes appeals and reclaiming motions in the Inner House.

2. Includes summary applications for repossession cases only.

3. Sheriff Personal Injury Court was established on 22 September 2015.

Table 28: Civil legal aid grants, 2012-13 to 2017-18

Family subject matters	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18
Appeals - family	-	-	-	32	39	34
Contact/parentage	3,590	3,345	3,043	2,669	2,804	2,599
Divorce/separation	2,295	2,240	1,929	1,814	1,817	1,688
Property/monetary	343	321	294	262	247	236
Protective order	530	407	328	284	301	315
Residence	1,412	1,360	1,190	1,120	1,192	1,179
Family/matrimonial - other	643	697	655	655	688	764
Total civil legal aid grants - family	8,813	8,370	7,439	6,836	7,088	6,815
Non-family subject matters
Adults with incapacity	2,663	3,024	3,587	4,083	4,385	4,603
Appeals - other	126	131	107	106	100	59
Breach of contract	30	31	15	16	17	10
Debt	125	99	122	109	120	82
Discrimination	-	3	1	1	7	3
Fatal accident inquiries	8	12	12	12	16	14
Housing/recovery of heritable property	758	807	787	692	840	791
Immigration and asylum	173	198	277	333	234	189
Judicial review	68	75	65	80	35	90
Medical negligence	58	94	86	61	76	74
Reparation	231	235	187	193	239	90
Other	374	330	292	295	268	273
Total civil legal aid grants - non-family	4,614	5,039	5,538	5,981	6,337	6,278
Total civil legal aid grants	13,427	13,409	12,977	12,817	13,425	13,093

1. Figures supplied by the Scottish Legal Aid Board.

2. Note that, granted cases may not always proceed.