According to Scottish Statutory Instrument 2026/246 on legislation.gov.uk, the Court of Session has made a narrow but important procedural amendment to the Ordinary Cause Rules 1993. The measure was made on 26 August 2026, laid before the Scottish Parliament on 28 August 2026, and comes into force on 30 September 2026. The instrument is titled the Act of Sederunt (Ordinary Cause Rules 1993 Amendment) (Judgments) 2026. Its purpose is to standardise the form used when a sheriff issues certain judgments in ordinary cause proceedings.
The SSI records that the Court of Session approved draft rules submitted by the Scottish Civil Justice Council before making the instrument under section 104(1) of the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 and other enabling powers. It also provides for a certified copy to be inserted in the Books of Sederunt, which is the formal record for court rules. For non-specialist readers, this is a rules amendment rather than a change to the substance of civil claims. It adjusts how judgments are documented within sheriff court procedure, not the legal test a sheriff applies when deciding a case.
The amendment sits in Chapter 12 of the Ordinary Cause Rules 1993, which deals with interlocutors, meaning the formal orders and judgments issued in a case. From 30 September, rules 12.3(3) and 12.4(2)(b) will require the note to be set out in Form O7ZA, described in the legislation as the form of judgment. That requirement applies in two situations. One is an ex tempore judgment, where the sheriff gives a decision at the hearing or immediately after it. The other is a reserved judgment, where the decision is issued later after the court has had time to consider the case.
The same instrument also makes a terminology correction across Chapter 12 by replacing 'extempore' with 'ex tempore' wherever the term appears. The accompanying note on legislation.gov.uk makes clear that this is a drafting update as well as a procedural one. Just as important is what the amendment does not do. It does not alter when a sheriff may give judgment ex tempore or reserve judgment for later issue. The change is instead about format and consistency, with a prescribed form now attached to the existing rules.
For solicitors, court staff and unrepresented parties, the practical date is 30 September 2026. From then, any note produced under rules 12.3 or 12.4 will need to use Form O7ZA, which means document templates, precedent libraries and filing routines may need to be updated before the rule takes effect. By inserting Form O7ZA into Appendix 1, immediately after Form O7, the Court of Session has also made the new document easier to locate within the rules themselves. That matters in day-to-day court administration, where standard wording and consistent formatting reduce avoidable dispute about what a judgment note should contain.
The instrument was signed in Edinburgh on 26 August 2026 by Lord President Paul Cullen. The explanatory note states that the amendment makes provision for the form of a note required under rules 12.3 or 12.4, which is a concise description of a targeted procedural change. For court users, the message is straightforward. No new cause of action is being created and no substantive right is being removed. The effect is that ex tempore and reserved judgments in ordinary cause cases will now be recorded using a prescribed Form O7ZA from the end of September 2026.