Once the Court has had the opportunity to consider carefully all the evidence and submissions presented at the hearing, together with its own impressions from any inspection of the holding concerned, it issues its decision in the form of an Order and Note.
What is an Order?
A written Order formally sets out the Court’s legal decision on the case. An accompanying Note normally details the evidence and submissions, and gives the Court’s reasoning for reaching the decision.
The Court’s Final Order may require a party to the dispute to do something; for example, to pay over a certain amount of money, or to erect a fence around an area of ground. The party is obliged to comply, and the Order can be enforced against him by the Court if it is not fulfilled.
The Court sends a copy of the Order to all the parties to the case by Recorded Delivery letter.
What if I am dissatisfied with the Court’s decision?
Whether you are the applicant or any other party to a case and you believe that the Court has come to a wrong conclusion, then you may appeal against the decision.
If the case was heard by the Divisional Court (that is by a single Member sitting with the Legal Assessor) you may appeal to the Full Court. If the case was decided by the Full Court then you may appeal to the Court of Session. You must lodge your appeal within one month of the Court issuing its decision.
For an appeal from a decision of a Divisional Court to the Full Court you must submit your appeal in the form set out in the Rules of Court. You may lodge an appeal yourself or you may have your solicitor or other agent do so on your behalf.
Rules regarding appeals are set out in full in Rules of Court 67 to 77 and 88 to 94. For appeals to the Court of Session in terms of section 88 of the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003 you should refer to the current Rules of the Court of Session. The time limit for such appeal is 28 days.
If you find out that important information was not put before the Court at the hearing, you may in certain circumstances defined in Rules of Court 78 to 87 be entitled to seek a rehearing. You must do so within three months of the issue of a decision, unless there are special circumstances. The Court will want to know why information was not presented at the first hearing.
Where can I find previous decisions of the Court?
You can find reported decisions of the Land Court in one of four sets of reports:
- Scottish Land Court Reports 1913–1963.
- Scottish Land Court Reports 1982 to date.
- Scots Law Times 1964 to date.
- Appendices to the Scottish Land Court Reports 1912–1981.
You will find more details about these publications in the Court Decisions section of this site.
Since the last edition of the Scottish Land Court Reports, the Court has issued certain decisions which are as yet unreported. You will find brief details of these on the Recent decisions page.
Copyright 2002–2007, The Scottish Land Court
