§ Mr. A. SHAWasked the Secretary for Scotland (1) whether, since the Committee on National Expenditure recommended that the number of judges in the Court of Session should be reduced, he will say why the recent vacancy on the bench has been filled up;
(2) the number of cases in the Court of Session in the year 1921; the number of final judgments pronounced during the year; the number of cases remaining undisposed of at the end of the year; the number of cases tried in the High Court 1820W of Justiciary in the same year; and whether he can give the corresponding figures for the average of the five pre-War years 1909–13?
§ Mr. MUNROIt is not the case that the Committee recommended that the number of judges should be reduced. They drew attention to the fact that the number of judges in the Court of Session was higher in proportion to the population of Scotland than the number of judges in the High Court of England compared with the population of England and Wales. The Committee state that this disparity is apparently due to the fact that the Masters who perform minor judicial functions in the English Supreme Court have, broadly speaking, no counterpart in Scotland, and they suggest that an inquiry should be made as to the possibility of economics by the adoption of similar judicial arrangements in Scotland. A similar proposal was considered in 1870 by a Royal Commission of a very representative character which contained eminent English lawyers. The Commission were unanimously of opinion that the adoption of the proposal would inevitably entail great additional expense. Since the date when the Commission reported the population of Scotland has increased by 45 per cent., and I see no reason to suppose that a change of the nature suggested would now make for economy.
The latest year for which I have the figures is 1920. In that year the number of cases in the Court of Session was as follows: In the Outer House, 2,899; in the Bill Chamber, 80; and in the Inner House, 920. The number of final judgments pronounced in the Outer House was 1,771, and in the Inner House, 475. At the end of the year there remained undisposed of 908 cases in the Outer House and 287 in the Inner House. The number of criminal cases tried in the High Court of Justiciary in the same year was 153. The corresponding figures for the average of the years 1909–13 are: Cases in the Outer House, 2,319; in the Bill Chamber, 199, and in the Inner House. 922. Final judgments pronounced in the Outer House, 1,470, and in the Inner House, 488. Cases undisposed of in the Outer House, 634, and in the Inner House, 221. Criminal cases tried in the High Court of Justiciary, 135.