95.Subsection (1) permits maximum flexibility to allow the Sheriff Appeal Court to sit at any place in Scotland designated by the Act as a place for the holding of a sheriff court (which may be as general as a reference to a town or city – see sections 1 and 2). For example, this means that, although the Sheriff Appeal Court could sit centrally in Edinburgh for criminal appeals, there will remain the possibility of civil appeals being heard in the sheriffdom in which they originated. (This also includes the possibility that criminal and civil appeals could be heard in Parliament House in Edinburgh as “Edinburgh” is currently (and will remain) a place designated where a sheriff court is to be held.) Under subsection (5), these arrangements are subject to the overall responsibility for the efficient disposal of business in the Scottish courts placed on the Lord President.
96.Section 58 provides for the Appeal Sheriffs to determine that a case be reheard by a fuller bench of the Sheriff Appeal Court in circumstances where they are equally divided or where they consider the matter to merit such treatment.