The enforcement of court judgments in Scotland
The main statutes on enforcement (or diligence, as is the Scots term) are the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987, the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Act 2002, and the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc.(Scotland) Act 2007. Section 221 of the 2007 Act explains the meanings of “decree” and “document of debt”: a creditor must possess one or the other before he can proceed with diligence in execution. (A civil judgment granted outside Scotland by a court, tribunal or arbiter which, by virtue of any enactment or rule of law, is enforceable in Scotland would be classed as a decree.) At common law, any creditor having possession of a legal warrant for enforcement may proceed directly to instruct a judicial officer to enforce it.
