| Description: |
Relating to papers that cover the whole of a case from beginning to end, otherwise known as 'processes'. Most of the papers are connected to cases appearing in the corresponding Books of Adjournal and Minute Books, but until c.1980s, they were not filed in the same sequence as the entries in the books. They include:
* dates of lodging (refers to the date when a case is first raised to the court)
* summonses (an order by a court that a person attend at a particular court at a stated time on a particular date)
* details of conviction (being found guilty of a criminal offence)
* examination of witnesses (the process of witnesses being asked questions relating to the case during a trial).
* productions (evidence, for instance: photographs, objects, medical reports etc., used to support a finding or argument during a trial).
* the steps in the appeal (the process of asking the court to overturn a lower court's decision. If the decision of a court is disputed it may be possible to ask a higher court to consider the case again by lodging an appeal).
These were originally know as 'small papers' because justiciary processes (i.e. criminal cases) were folded breadthwise, as distinct from the process of the court of session (i.e. civil cases), which were folded lengthwise. |