§ The Lord AdvocateI beg to move Amendment No. 3, in page 23, line 33, after "Session", insert "on any point of law".
This is a drafting Amendment. The provisions of Clause 38(b) are clearly to the effect that appeals to the Court of Session from the judgment of the sheriff principal should be restricted to a point of law. In the ordinary case, by virtue of the provisions of paragraph (a), no problem arises where the appeal is from a sheriff principal who has himself acted as an appellate judge in the matter because the appeal has reached him in the first place on a point of law by virtue of Clause 38(a). It occasionally happens that a sheriff principal takes a case at first instance and, for the avoidance of doubt, we feel it is necessary to write in a provision, as in paragraph (a), that any appeal from the sheriff principal to the Court of Session must be on a point of law. It is with these considerations in mind that this small drafting Amendment has been tabled.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ The Lord AdvocateI beg to move Amendment No. 4, in page 23, line 36, leave out "the judgment" and insert "an interlocutor".
This again is a drafting Amendment to make perfectly clear that the only appeal which is competent is an appeal from a final judgment. The term "the judgment" in line 36 may arguably be linked with the words "final judgment" which appear in both paragraphs (a) and (b). If so, that would not preclude appeals in other circumstances under Sections 27 1409 and 28 of the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act, 1907. If that result were reached it would defeat the purpose of the Clause, and it is to avoid that situation that this drafting Amendment has been tabled.
§ Amendment agreed to.