§ Lord McCluskeyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What use has been made in Scotland of Section 17 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1980 (Power of judges to act as arbiters); what steps have been taken to publicise this facility; and if little or no use has been made of it to state the reasons why.
§ The Lord Advocate (Lord Mackay of Clashfern)I understand that to date no court of session judge has yet been invited to accept appointment as an arbiter in accordance with the power given by Section 17 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1980. The introduction of the power was noted in the legal press and there is no reason to think that it is not known to legal practitioners. The decision to seek the appointment of a judge is of course one for the parties to commercial arbitrations and I do not think that it would be fruitful to speculate on their reasons for not doing so.