236.Adjudication for debt is the diligence which creditors may use against heritable (and some other) property of debtors. A creditor who has, say, decree for payment, and who wants to recover that money by diligence against that kind of property must first raise an action of adjudication. Decree in that action gives the creditor some rights over the debtor’s property (such as the ability to remove the debtor from possession and to let the property). However, if the debt is not paid off, a 10-year period (the “legal”) must expire before the creditor can take the next step, raising an action for declarator of expiry of the legal. Decree in that action has the effect of transferring ownership of the property to the creditor.
237.This section abolishes adjudication for debt. That abolition does not affect an action raised before the day this section comes into force provided decree is granted no later than 6 months after that day.