Civil justice statistics in Scotland: 2018-2019

The 2018-2019 civil justice statistics in Scotland release includes main statistics tables, figures and supplementary statistics tables.

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Table 3: Cases1 initiated and disposed of2 in the sheriff courts3, by procedure, 2009-10 to 2018-19

Cases Procedure 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 % change since 2017-18 % change since 2009-10
Initiated Ordinary cause 42,823 34,123 26,021 24,957 24,026 23,628 23,212 22,672 22,620 22,776 1 -47
Summary cause4 27,464 23,799 22,783 18,510 18,852 20,624 22,160 20,214 18,057 15,177 -16 -45
Small claim4, 5 41,450 34,386 31,698 29,043 29,633 27,353 26,848 18,857 32 39 22 -100
Simple procedure4 z z z z z z z 6,690 34,914 28,249 -19 z
Total initiated 111,737 92,308 80,502 72,510 72,511 71,605 72,220 68,433 75,623 66,241 -12 -41
Disposed Ordinary cause 33,911 29,768 23,410 20,733 19,575 18,768 19,102 17,210 16,123 16,991 5 -50
Summary cause4 27,568 24,036 22,434 19,831 17,876 18,984 20,638 20,557 16,647 14,138 -15 -49
Small claim 43,352 33,700 31,303 28,217 27,905 28,053 26,492 23,571 1,327 130 -90 -100
Simple procedure4 z z z z z z z 1,032 29,897 29,613 -1 z
Total disposed 104,831 87,504 77,147 68,781 65,356 65,805 66,232 62,370 63,994 60,872 -5 -42

1. Excludes summary applications.

2. Figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

3. Excludes Sheriff Personal Injury Court.

4. The first phase of simple procedure replaced the small claims and the more straightforward cases under summary cause procedure from 28 November 2016. 

More complex summary cause cases will move during phase two of simple procedure in due course.

5. There are still a small number of small claims cases being registered, mainly under the EU small claims procedure.

Contact

Email: justice_analysts@gov.scot

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