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A sheriff court (Scottish Gaelic: ''cùirt an t-siorraim'') provides local court service in Scotland, with each court serving a sheriff court district within a sheriffdom. Sheriff courts deal with a myriad of legal procedures which include: * Solemn and summary criminal cases * Large and small estates upon a death * Fine payments * Civil actions under ordinary, summary cause, and small claim procedures * Adoption cases * Bankruptcy actions == History == The office of sheriff dates from the early days of the Scottish monarchy. Generally, one of the more powerful local lords in each county was appointed and the office became hereditary in his family. The original purpose of the sheriff was to exercise and preserve the King's authority against the rival powers of the local lords and the sheriff became the local representative of the King in all matters, judicial and administrative. The sheriff dispensed the King's justice in his county in the Sheriff Court. The hereditary sheriff later delegated his judicial functions to a trained lawyer called a sheriff-depute. The ''Heritable Jurisdictions Act'' of 1747 abolished the office of hereditary sheriff and the sheriff-depute soon became sheriff.〔Edwin R. Keedy, "Criminal Procedure in Scotland", (1913) 3 (5) ''Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology'' 728 via (JSTOR ) accessed 22 October 2011.〕 〔W. E. Dodds, "A Few Comparisons between English and Scots Law" (1926) 8 (4) ''Journal of Comparative Legislation and International Law, Third Series'' 184 via (JSTOR ) accessed 22 October 2011.〕 At first, only the sheriff of the Lothians and Peebles (who sat at Edinburgh) and the sheriff of Lanarkshire (who sat at Glasgow) were full-time appointments.〔 Since the part-time sheriff-depute was not compelled to reside within his sheriffdom and could carry on his practice as advocate, it became common for a depute to appoint a sheriff-substitute who acted in his absence. Over time, the judicial duties of the depute were entirely assumed by the substitute and the depute became a judge of appeal from the decisions of his substitute.〔 The ''Sheriff Court (Scotland) Act'' 1870 combined the thirty counties of Scotland into fifteen sheriffdoms. Until 1877, the sheriffs-substitutes were appointed by the sheriffs-deputes; after 1877, that right was reserved to the Crown.〔 The civil procedure before the Sheriff Court underwent a "major overhaul" with the enactment of the ''Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act'' 1907.〔The Scottish Government, ("Part 3" ), "Background to the Review", ''Scottish Government Response to the Report and Recommendations of the Scottish Civil Courts Review'', "33. It is important to acknowledge that the Scottish system of civil justice has largely served Scotland well since the last major overhaul, the passage of the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1907, and many of the problems now encountered in Scotland have also developed in other, comparable legal systems."〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sheriff court」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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