Publication - Statistics

Civil justice statistics in Scotland: 2018-2019

Published: 7 April 2020
Directorate: Safer Communities Directorate
Topic: Law and order
ISBN: 9781839606731

The 2018-2019 civil justice statistics in Scotland release includes main statistics tables, figures and supplementary statistics tables.

Supporting documents

Table 3: Cases¹ initiated and disposed of² in the sheriff courts³, by procedure, 2009-10 to 2018-19

Cases	Procedure	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	% change since 2017-18	% change since 2009-10
Initiated	Ordinary cause	42,823	34,123	26,021	24,957	24,026	23,628	23,212	22,672	22,620	22,776	1	-47
	Summary cause⁴	27,464	23,799	22,783	18,510	18,852	20,624	22,160	20,214	18,057	15,177	-16	-45
	Small claim^{4, 5}	41,450	34,386	31,698	29,043	29,633	27,353	26,848	18,857	32	39	22	-100
	Simple procedure⁴	z	z	z	z	z	z	z	6,690	34,914	28,249	-19	z
	Total initiated	111,737	92,308	80,502	72,510	72,511	71,605	72,220	68,433	75,623	66,241	*-12*	*-41*
Disposed	Ordinary cause	33,911	29,768	23,410	20,733	19,575	18,768	19,102	17,210	16,123	16,991	5	-50
	Summary cause⁴	27,568	24,036	22,434	19,831	17,876	18,984	20,638	20,557	16,647	14,138	-15	-49
	Small claim	43,352	33,700	31,303	28,217	27,905	28,053	26,492	23,571	1,327	130	-90	-100
	Simple procedure⁴	z	z	z	z	z	z	z	1,032	29,897	29,613	-1	z
	Total disposed	104,831	87,504	77,147	68,781	65,356	65,805	66,232	62,370	63,994	60,872	-5	*-42*

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.

Contact

Email: justice_analysts@gov.scot

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Information

Table 3: Cases1 initiated and disposed of2 in the sheriff courts3, by procedure, 2009-10 to 2018-19

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Table 3: Cases¹ initiated and disposed of² in the sheriff courts³, by procedure, 2009-10 to 2018-19