Public Records (Scotland) Act 1937
439.Paragraph 2 provides for amendments to the 1937 Act that will make it clear that the sheriff principal will be responsible for the preservation of the records of the JP courts within his or her sheriffdom. New section 2A is added to the 1937 Act which makes provision for the storage of JP court records. These provisions are largely in line with the provisions in place for the storage of sheriff court records, with several exceptions. They provide that the Sheriff Principal may, on the application of the Keeper of the Records of Scotland (“the Keeper”), make an order directing that selected JP court records of that sheriffdom shall be transmitted to the Keeper. This is in contrast to sheriff court records where an order of the Lord President is required. Subsection (2) of new section 2A provides that such an order shall not apply to any record less than 10 years old unless the sheriff principal is satisfied that adequate provision cannot otherwise be made. This again is in contrast to the provision for sheriff court records where records must generally be at least 25 years old. JP court records are to be transmitted to the Keeper within six months of the date of the order whereas sheriff court records cannot be transmitted earlier than three months from the date of the order.