In the

Courts of Scotland The courts of Scotland are responsible for administration of justice in Scotland, under statutory, common law and equitable provisions within Scots law. The courts are presided over by the judiciary of Scotland, who are the various judicial ...

, a sheriff-substitute was the historical name for the

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility ...

s who sit in the local sheriff courts under the direction of the sheriffs principal; from 1971 the sheriffs substitute were renamed simply as sheriff. When researching the history of the sheriffs and sheriffs principal of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

there is much confusion over the use of different names to refer to

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transl ...

s in Scotland. Sheriffs principal are those sheriffs who have held office over a

sheriffdom A sheriffdom is a judicial district in Scotland, led by a sheriff principal. Since 1 January 1975, there have been six sheriffdoms. Each sheriffdom is divided into a series of sheriff court districts, and each sheriff court is presided over by a r ...

, whether through inheritance or through direct appointment by

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

. Thus, hereditary sheriff (before 1746) and sheriff-depute (after 1746) are the precursors to the modern office of sheriff principal.

Background

The office of sheriff in Scotland is an ancient one, owing its origins to the practice of the

King of Scots The monarch of Scotland was the head of state of the Kingdom of Scotland. According to tradition, the first King of Scots was Kenneth I MacAlpin (), who founded the state in 843. Historically, the Kingdom of Scotland is thought to have grown ...

to appoint leading local

magnate The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

s to hear disputes between his subjects. In many cases, the office of sheriff became hereditary, a practice strengthened by the

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meanin ...

-based social system that prevailed in parts of Scotland such as the

Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia * So ...

. As the complexity of the law grew, and its administration began to require specialist knowledge and training, an increasingly common practice was for the hereditary sheriff, usually a

layman In religious organizations, the laity () consists of all members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-ordained members of religious orders, e.g. a nun or a lay brother. In both religious and wider secular usage, a layperson ...

, to appoint a sheriff-depute to hear cases on his behalf. Because the same sheriff-depute might be appointed to assist several different sheriffs, he in turn would appoint a sheriff-substitute to act in his place when he was unavailable to sit in a particular court. In the aftermath of the

Jacobite rising of 1745 The Jacobite rising of 1745, also known as the Forty-five Rebellion or simply the '45 ( gd, Bliadhna Theàrlaich, , ), was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took p ...

, the British government abolished heritable jurisdictions throughout Scotland, including the office of hereditary sheriff. In most cases, the sheriffs-deputes came to formally assume the responsibilities they had already been discharging. The title of sheriff-depute soon fell into disuse, being shortened simply to "sheriff". A local judge appointed by the sheriff would continue to be called a sheriff-substitute. In the latter part of the 20th century, the titles of ''sheriff'' and ''sheriff-substitute'' were replaced by ''sheriff principal'' and ''sheriff'' respectively:
:Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1971. c. 58. Part I. Sheriffs Principal and Sheriffs, Section 4: ::Offices of Sheriff Principal and Sheriff: ::(1) The office of sheriff (that is to say, the office known formerly as the office of sheriff depute, but known immediately before the commencement of this Act as the office of sheriff) shall be known as the office of sheriff principal, the office of sheriff substitute shall be known as the office of sheriff, and the office of honorary sheriff substitute shall be known as the office of honorary sheriff.Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1971 available in the following UK legislation website: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/58/section/4 ''Accessed 2012-10-03''

References

{{Reflist Legal terminology Judiciary of Scotland Sheriff courts

Background

See also

References