The Act Part 1 - Sheriff Courts
20.The provisions in Part 1 are principally designed to give effect to those recommendations of the Scottish Civil Courts Review which relate to the sheriff court. The principal changes included in this Part involve:
	the increase in the exclusive competence, of the sheriff court from £5,000 to £100,000;
	the creation of a new judicial office in the sheriff court to be known as the summary sheriff with concurrent jurisdiction with sheriffs but in a more restricted range of both civil and criminal matters; and
	the ability for Scottish Ministers to confer an all-Scotland jurisdiction on a sheriff in a specified sheriffdom sitting at a specified sheriff court for the purposes of dealing with specified types of civil proceedings (e.g. the proposed Sheriff Personal Injury Court).
21.The introduction of such fundamental changes by way of amendment to the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Acts of 1907 and 1971 would almost inevitably result in a very unsatisfactory and fractured product which would be very difficult for legal practitioners and others. The opportunity has therefore been taken to restate (sometimes with modification) the relevant provisions which will now sit together in this single Part of the Act.