Pre-action requirements in Scottish civil litigation

Produced in partnership with Euan McSherry of Aberdein Considine.

This Practice Note considers pre-action conduct in general civil disputes in Scotland. For guidance on:

• pre-action conduct in Scottish personal injury claims, see Practice Note: The Scottish Personal Injury Pre-Action Protocol
• other aspects of Scottish civil litigation, see: Starting and progressing a civil claim in Scottish civil litigation—overview, which, in turn links through to detailed guidance on specific aspects of dispute resolution in Scotland
• other key areas of Scottish law and procedure, see our Scotland toolkit, and
• the closest equivalent procedure in England and Wales, see: Pre-action: general—overview and Pre-action protocols—overview which, in turn, link through to more detailed guidance on various aspects of pre-action conduct in England and Wales

Note: this Practice Note does not offer guidance on pre-action requirements in ordinary actions governed, in part, by statute for example: where a lender wishes to enforce a qualifying standard security under the Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970; where a landlord wishes to evict a former tenant having irritated a lease (Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1985); etc.

Key:

• COSPN 2017: 2017 Practice Note—guidance issued by the Court of Session for commercial actions in that court. This came into force on 27 March 2017, supplements the RCS and can be accessed from the right-hand margin of this guidance
• OCR: Ordinary Cause Rules—govern ‘ordinary actions’ proceeding in any of the Sheriff Courts
• RCS: Rules of Court of Session—govern procedure, including commercial action procedure, in the Court of Session
• SCPN1 of 2017: Practice Note No 1 of 2017—guidance issued by the