The Act Part 1 - Sheriff Courts Temporary and part-time judiciary Section 6 – Temporary sheriff principal
27.Section 6 which effectively re-enacts, with amendments, section 11 of the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1971 makes provision for the appointment of a temporary sheriff principal in the circumstances set out in subsection (1). In these circumstances, and if the Lord President requests, the Scottish Ministers must appoint a temporary sheriff principal. Those eligible for appointment are a sheriff (subsection (2)(a)) or a “qualifying former sheriff principal” (subsection (2)(b)) defined in subsection (3) as an individual who ceased to hold office as sheriff principal other than by virtue of an order under section 25 (removal from office) and who has not reached the age of 75. Subsection (4) sets out that a temporary sheriff principal may be appointed to exercise either all of the sheriff principal’s functions or only those which the sheriff principal is unable to perform or is precluded from exercising. The Lord President may request the appointment of a temporary sheriff principal on the ground that a vacancy has occurred in the office of sheriff principal, but only if the Lord President considers such an appointment to be necessary or expedient in order to avoid a delay in the administration of justice in the sheriffdom (subsection (6)).