First instance jurisdiction

The Inner House will sit as a court of first instance in respect of special cases, where the facts are not disputed but where a significant legal difficulty has arisen. Such a case may be appealed to another panel of the Inner House, but constituted with a greater number of senators than the initial panel. Further appeals are also possible to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.^[3]

Appellate jurisdiction

Almost all hearings in the Inner House are before three judges, although in important cases in which there is a conflict of authority a court of five judges or, exceptionally, seven, may be convened. The Inner House is sub-divided into two divisions of equal authority and jurisdiction - the First Division, headed by the Lord President; and the Second Division headed by the Lord Justice Clerk. The courts to hear each case are, ordinarily, drawn from these divisions.^[4][5] When neither is available to chair a hearing, an Extra Division of three senators is summoned, chaired by the most senior judge present; due to pressure of business this Extra Division sits frequently nowadays.^[1]

The appellate jurisdiction of the Inner House was substantially altered by the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 which created the Sheriff Appeal Court, which now sees civil appeals being heard by an Appeal Sheriff sitting in the Sheriff Appeal Court. Such appeals are binding on all sheriff courts in Scotland, and appeals can only be remitted (transferred) to the Inner House where they are deemed to be of wider public interest, raise a significant point of law, or are particularly complex:^[6]

... the rationale for the establishment of the Sheriff Appeal Court, that it will deal with virtually all civil appeals from the sheriff court because these do not merit the attention of Inner House judges except in very exceptional cases. This will free up Inner House judges to deal with more complex matters.

Section 48 of the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 establishes the precedent of judgments in the Sheriff Appeal Court, so that when the Sheriff Appeal Court makes a decision on a question of law, it is binding in every sheriffdom for every sheriff court and every justice of the peace court. The decision is also binding on the Sheriff Appeal Court, unless it convenes a bench with a greater number of Appeal Sheriffs than the original court.^{[6]: Section 38}