Scottish Government Decides That Civil Court Fees Do Not Impede Access To Justice; No Substantive Change To Court Fee Structure

On 26 February, the Scottish Government published the outcome of its consultation on Scottish Court Fees - that is, the fees which parties must pay to the courts to bring or defend a court action. You could be forgiven for assuming that this was a dry and uninteresting review of rather mundane matters. However that assumption would be wrong. The consultation considered the principles which underpin the funding of the civil courts in Scotland and the extent to which access to justice is impeded by the current fee structure. These are topics closely allied to those being considered by the Scottish Government in the Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Bill 2017. Indeed responses to the Fees consultation focused on some of the same issues which have been raised in relation to the Bill.

Should the Scottish Court System be funded by users or...