I have previously attempted to obtain court documents by writing to a local sheriff court. However, this was refused, and I discovered that there is a Scottish Court Service policy against disclosing court documents to anyone other than parties or their legal representatives.
I believe that this policy is contrary to the common law of open justice and raised the issue with my constituency MSP who advised me to contact the Scottish Ministers to see if they intended to legislate in this area.
The response from the Scottish Ministers was that “In general terms, members of the public are only entitled to access civil case papers if they have an interest in the case. This usually means only the parties to the cause and their legal representatives. Any other person wishing access to civil papers should be directed to the solicitors for the parties”.
As the Ministers indicated that they did not intend to change the law, I have decided to submit a petition to the Scottish Parliament.