Lords Sitting of 26 April 1819

SCOTS JURY-COURT.
The Lord Chancellormoved the order of the day for the second reading of a bill for facilitating the administration of justice by regulating the jury court. His lordship briefly stated the origin of the act which the present bill proposed to amend. On the motion of a noble lord, a commission had some years ago been appointed to inquire into the administration of justice, and the state of the courts in Scotland. The commission recommended the introduction of the trial by jury in civil cases in Scotland. An
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act of parliament was subsequently passed to carry the recommendation of the commission into effect. It was at the same time found convenient, for the despatch of business, to divide the court of session into divisions or chambers; but when causes came before the lord ordinary which it was desirable to refer to a jury, an unnecessary expense was occasioned by bringing the case first before the court. The saving of that unnecessary expense was a principal object of the present bill. It authorized the lord ordinary in the first instance, if he thought fit, or on reference to the divisions, to send the case before a jury. All matters of law were, however, as heretofore, confined to the jurisdiction of the court and the lord Ordinary. The bill also provided for the presence of two judges in the jury-court, and enabled them to consult the court of session, and to make certain decisions, called sederunts.
The bill was read a second time.