Number of Court of Session cases up 13 per cent last year following 224 per cent increase in clinical negligence cases

However, the number of civil law cases initiated in Scottish courts overall is at its lowest since current statistics began in 2008-09.

The latest civil justice statistics, published by Scotland’s chief statistician today show that there were 76,800 civil law cases raised in the financial year 2014-15, a drop of 42 per cent since 2008-09.

But the number of cases raised has seen little change since 2012-13, suggesting the downward trend may have come to an end. These statistics show the situation before the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 take effect.

There were 33,800 debt cases raised in 2014-15, 49 per cent lower than 2008-09. There are multiple routes for resolving disputes over debt and it is possible that non-court options are becoming increasingly favoured.

Despite the decline in debt cases they still make up nearly half of civil law cases in sheriff courts, followed by eviction cases, family disputes and personal injury claims.

Divorces continued their downward trend as a six per cent reduction on the previous year resulted in 9,000 divorces in 2014-15. Dissolutions of civil partnerships rose to 81 cases from 61 cases the year before.

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey shows that around one in five adults experienced at least one civil law problem in the last three years. The most common type of issue was disputes with neighbours, followed by problems with faulty goods and services, and then money and debt.

The number of cases raised in sheriff courts, which accounted for 93 per cent of all civil law cases, was down one per cent at 71,600.

Tayside, Central and Fife sheriffdom heard the most sheriff court cases – 13,800 cases in 2014-15, a rise of two per cent. Meanwhile, the Glasgow and Strathkelvin sheriffdom saw a drop of 14 per cent to 11,500 cases.