Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1971

16 Functions of sheriff principal with respect to duties and leave of absence of sheriffs

(1) The sheriff principal of each sheriffdom shall make such arrangements as appear to him necessary or expedient for the purpose of securing the speedy and efficient disposal of business in the sheriff courts of that sheriffdom, and in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing words, may—

(a) subject to any direction given by the Secretary of State under section 9 of this Act, provide for the division of such business as aforesaid between the sheriff principal and the sheriffs appointed for the sheriffdom, and for the distribution of the business (so far as allocated to the sheriffs) amongst those sheriffs ;

(b) where any of those sheriffs is by reason of illness or otherwise unable to perform his duties as sheriff, or a vacancy occurs in the office of sheriff in the sheriffdom, or for any other reason it appears to the sheriff principal expedient so to do in order to avoid delay in the administration of justice in the sheriffdom, make special provision of a temporary nature for the disposal of any part of the- said business either by the sheriff principal or by any of the sheriffs appointed for the sheriffdom, in addition to or in place of the sheriff principal's or, as the case may be, that sheriff's own duties;

so, however, that nothing done under this subsection shall enable a sheriff to dispose of business which he does not otherwise have power to dispose of.

(2) The sheriff principal of any sheriffdom may approve such leave of absence for any sheriff appointed for that sheriffdom as appears to the sheriff principal to be proper, but the amount of leave so approved (other than leave granted on account of ill-health) shall not, unless the Secretary of State for special reasons otherwise permits, exceed seven weeks in any year.

(3) In subsection (2) above " sheriff" shall not include an honorary sheriff.