Act of Sederunt modifies child witness notices and counter-terrorism legislation

child witness notices, counter-terrorism legislation and the summary warrant procedure.

The Act of Sederunt (Rules of the Court of Session 1994 and Sheriff Court Rules Amendment) (No. 3) (Miscellaneous) 2015 amends the Rules of the Court of Session 1994, the Ordinary Cause Rules 1993, the Summary Cause Rules 2002, the Small Claim Rules 2002, the Act of Sederunt (Child Care and Maintenance Rules) 1997, the Summary Application Rules and the Act of Sederunt (Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Act 2002) 2002

Child Witness Notice

Paragraphs 2 to 6 modify the form of child witness notice prescribed in theRules of the Court of Session, the Ordinary Cause Rules, the Summary Cause Rules, the Small Claim Rules and the Act of Sederunt (Child Care and Maintenance Rules) 1997.

These rules are amended so that references to a child witness are to a person under the age of eighteen at the date of the commencement of the proceedings.

These amendments are made in consequence of section 22 of the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014, which amends the definition of a “child witness” in section 11 of the Vulnerable Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2004.

Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015

Paragraph 7 amends the Summary Application Rules by inserting Part XLVI (Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015) and new Forms 69 and 70. This Part provides for the procedure when an application is made to the sheriff to extend the period of detention of travel documents. It also provides for the procedure to make further applications.

Summary warrant procedure

Paragraph 8 amends the Act of Sederunt (Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Act 2002) 2002 by inserting a new Form C, which prescribes the form of summary warrant to recover sums payable to Revenue Scotland.

This Act of Sederunt comes into force on 7th August 2015, with the exceptions of paragraphs 2 to 6 which come into force on 01st September 2015.