Scotland’s sheriff court ordinary cause procedure will change at the end of September under the Act of Sederunt (Ordinary Cause Rules 1993 Amendment) (Judgments) 2026. The instrument, published as Scottish Statutory Instrument 2026/246 on legislation.gov.uk, was made on 26 August 2026, laid before the Scottish Parliament on 28 August 2026 and comes into force on 30 September 2026. The measure is procedural rather than policy-heavy, but it is still operationally important. It updates how judgments are recorded in ordinary cause cases in the sheriff court and introduces a prescribed form that will now have to be used in specified circumstances.
The legal route is set out on the face of the instrument. In accordance with section 4 of the Scottish Civil Justice Council and Criminal Legal Assistance Act 2013, the Court of Session approved draft rules submitted by the Scottish Civil Justice Council. The Court of Session then made the instrument under section 104(1) of the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 and other enabling powers. That matters because it places the amendment within the standard rule-making process for civil court procedure in Scotland. This is not a ministerial announcement or informal guidance. It is a formal amendment to the Ordinary Cause Rules 1993 and will carry direct effect from the commencement date.
The central change is in Chapter 12 of the Ordinary Cause Rules 1993, which deals with interlocutors. The new instrument amends rule 12.3(3), covering ex tempore judgments, and rule 12.4(2)(b), covering reserved judgments, so that the required note must now be in Form O7ZA, described in the instrument as the form of judgment. In practical terms, when a sheriff gives a judgment either immediately in court or after reserving the decision, the related written note will now need to follow a prescribed format. For practitioners, that should mean more consistency in the structure of written judgments issued under those rules. For court users, it should make the documentary record easier to identify and follow.
The instrument also amends Appendix 1 to the Ordinary Cause Rules 1993 by inserting the new Form O7ZA after Form O7. That is the mechanical step that gives the new judgment form its place within the wider set of prescribed court forms. The explanatory note attached to the legislation is concise on purpose. It states that the Act of Sederunt makes provision for the form of a note required under rules 12.3 or 12.4 and prescribes new Form O7ZA for that purpose. The effect is standardisation rather than a change to the substance of judicial decision-making.
A smaller amendment replaces the spelling “extempore” with “ex tempore” wherever it appears in Chapter 12. On the legislation’s own wording, that is a terminology correction rather than a substantive legal reform. It does not alter the meaning of the rule, the status of a judgment, or the court’s powers. That distinction is important for firms and party litigants assessing whether the instrument changes case strategy. It does not revise the grounds on which a sheriff may decide a case, alter appeal rights, or introduce a new test. The amendment is about format, drafting consistency and the presentation of judgments within the existing ordinary cause framework.
For solicitors, sheriff clerks and regular court users, the immediate task is administrative. Precedents, internal drafting notes and case management workflows that refer to Chapter 12 judgments will need to be checked before 30 September 2026 so that any note issued under rules 12.3 or 12.4 uses Form O7ZA. Training requirements are likely to be light, but document control will matter. For the public, the broader point is that procedural law often changes through narrow technical instruments such as this one. Although the amendment is limited, it affects how court decisions are formally recorded and communicated. The instrument also directs that a certified copy be inserted in the Books of Sederunt, underlining that this is a settled procedural update to the sheriff court rules rather than a temporary practice adjustment.