Register of Sheriffs' Commissions

The Register of Sheriffs' Commissions is for the recording of the appointment of a new Sheriff Principal within a Sheriffdom.

In this register are recorded commissions by the crown in favour of the Sheriff Principal (formerly Sheriffs-depute) of Scotland, which contain a clause directing them to be recorded within three months. The register commenced in 1748 immediately after the passing of the Heritable Jurisdictions (Scotland) Act 1746, which abolished heritable jurisdiction and established Sheriffs-depute.

The Royal Warrant (superscribed by the King) is worded in similar fashion to other types of commissions, but contains the clause stating it is: “to be registered in the Chancery Office in Edinburgh within the space of three months from the date hereof.” Within that three month period, the Royal Warrant is recorded in the Act Book of the Sheriff Courts within the relevant sheriffdom, as evidenced by the warrant being signed by the Sheriff Clerks of those courts.

Useful links

Sheriff Commission User Guide

Heritable Jurisdictions (Scotland) Act 1746 (external link)

Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (external link)

The personal secretary to the Sheriff Principal will post the warrant to RoS and, upon receipt, a docquet will be appended to the warrant which is then signed by the Keeper or other authorised signatory. The wording of the docquet being: “Edinburgh, (date of registration). This Commission in favour of (name of appointee) as Sheriff Principal of (name of Sheriffdom), has been registered in the Chancery Office of the Registers of Scotland”

There is no affixing of the great seal to this type of warrant, and there is no issue of a commission in velum.

The Warrant is then returned by post to the personal secretary as being registered. A typed copy of the warrant, containing registration details, is retained by RoS and acts as the register.

In the past these commissions have made reference to the 'Chancery Office'. This reference is to a department which was a predecessor of CAJR. The Chancery Office ceased to exist as a result of internal reorganisation within RoS in 1949. Despite this, there are a number of documents which still make reference to the Chancery Office. The Scottish Government Civil Law and Legal System Division have been making changes to some documents (e.g. warrant appointing new King's Counsel and warrant for Lord Justice Clerk) to remove the reference to the Chancery Office. A decision has been taken in conjunction with RoS that such references will be to the particular register that the warrants are written in (e.g. the Register of the Great Seal) rather than the Chancery Office. It is likely that the same approach will be taken with the Register of Sheriffs Commissions. Therefore the wording of the clause relating to RoS will be changed to "to be recorded in the Register of Sheriffs Commissions, within the space of three months from the date hereof.”