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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

PETITION, n. Sc. Law usage: the process by means of which a summary action is raised in the Court of Session. Comb. petition and complaint, an application to the Court for redress of complaints of malversation in office brought against magistrates and officers of the law, members of the College of Justice, etc.; formerly also, before the Reform Act, the form for bringing under review by the Court the actions of freeholders and magistrates of royal burghs at their Michaelmas head courts (Sc. 1946 A. D. Gibb Legal Terms 736). Cf. Petitor. For reclaiming petition, see Reclaim.Sc. 1823 Report Commissioners on Forms of Process, Scotland 47:
The first step [in a law-suit] is a Summons or Petition, this latter form being applicable to summary cases.Sc. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 735:
Petitions and complaints are addressed to one or other of the Divisions of the Inner-House. The petition sets forth the matter of complaint, generally in an argumentative detail of the facts, and concludes with a prayer, first for a warrant of service on the adverse party, and an appointment on him to answer, and then, that on resuming consideration of the petition and complaint, . . . the Court may grant the appropriate remedy, the nature of which is specified. . . . The petition and complaint is prepared and signed by counsel.Sc. 1871 Erskine Institute iv. i. § 9 note:
All petitions to the Court, either at common law or under special statutes, are summary actions.Sc. 1931 Encycl. Laws Scot. XI. 308:
Petitions form one of the two principal divisions of initiatory writ in the Court of Session, summonses being the other. . . . The petition as a rule asks no remedy against any specific person, but seeks the authority of the Court to allow the petitioner, or to appoint some other person, to do some act or exercise some power which without such authority would be incompetent.