Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Meeting date: Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Official Report
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Instruments not subject to Parliamentary Procedure
Act of Sederunt (Rules of the Court of Session Amendment No 6) (Miscellaneous) 2013 (SSI 2013/294)
Paragraph 5(1)(b) substitutes rule 76.37(3) of the Rules of the Court of Session. The new rule provides:
“An application under section 396(4) of the Act of 2002 or article 55(2) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (supplementary) shall be by motion.”
The reference to
“article 55(2) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002”
should be a reference to article 55(2) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (External Investigations) Order 2013 (SI 2013/2605). Accordingly, paragraph 5(1)(b) of the act of sederunt refers to the wrong legislation.
Although such drafting is not considered defective as it is unlikely in practice to prevent or impede the operation of the act of sederunt, it amounts to a patent error. Does the committee agree to draw the act to the Parliament’s attention under the general reporting ground as it incorrectly refers to an instrument of subordinate legislation about which it seeks to make provision?
Members indicated agreement.
Does the committee agree to note that the Lord President’s private office accepts that the reference to the legislation is incorrect and has undertaken to rectify the matter by amendment when the next act of sederunt amending the rules of the Court of Session is made?
Members indicated agreement.
That is welcome.
Indeed.
Finally, the committee may wish to note that the act of sederunt fails to meet commitments that were given to correct errors in SSIs 2013/162 and 2013/238. One of the errors in each of those instruments has been corrected, but not the other. Do members have any comments on that? I note that it is clearly an oversight. I think that the Lord President’s private office recognises that and has every intention of expediting the correction.
Act of Sederunt (Summary Applications, Statutory Applications and Appeals etc Rules Amendment) (Miscellaneous) 2013 (SSI 2013/293)
The committee agreed that no points arose on the instrument.