Section 41 – Power to confer all-Scotland jurisdiction for specified cases
73.Section 41 provides that the Scottish Ministers may by order (subject to negative procedure) set out that the jurisdiction of a sheriff of a specified sheriffdom sitting at a specified sheriff court will extend throughout Scotland for specified kinds of civil proceedings, for example, personal injury proceedings (subsection (1)). An order may be made by the Scottish Ministers only with the consent of the Lord President (subsection (2)). Such an order does not affect the jurisdiction of any other sheriff court which may still deal with the specified type of proceedings, nor does it restrict the specified court to only deal with the specified types of proceedings (subsection (4)). The section does not apply in relation to proceedings under the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 (subsection (5)). See also Chapter 1 of Part 3 of the Act which provides for civil jury trials in an all-Scotland sheriff court.