Judiciary of Scotland
The judiciary of Scotland are the judicial office holders who sit in the courts of Scotland and make decisions in both civil and criminal cases. Judges make sure that cases and verdicts are within the parameters set by Scots law, and they must hand down appropriate judgments and sentences. Judicial independence is guaranteed in law, with a legal duty on Scottish Ministers, the Lord Advocate and the Members of the Scottish Parliament to uphold judicial independence, and barring them from influencing the judges through any form of special access.
The Lord President of the Court of Session is the head of Scotland's judiciary and the presiding judge of the College of Justice The Lord President is Lord Pentland, who was appointed in February of 2025. The Lord President is supported by the Judicial Office for Scotland which was established on 1 April 2010 as a result of the Judiciary and Courts Act 2008, and the Lord President chairs the corporate board of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service.
The second most senior judge is the Lord Justice Clerk, and the other judges of the College of Justice are called Senators. When sitting in the Court of Session, Senators are known as Lords of Council and Session, and when sitting in the High Court of Justiciary they are known as Lords Commissioners of Justiciary. There are also some temporary judges who carry out the same work on a part-time basis.
Scotland's sheriffs deal with most civil and criminal cases. There are 6 sheriffdoms, each administered by a sheriff principal. Sheriffs principal and sheriffs are legally qualified, and previously serve as either advocates or solicitors, though many are also King's Counsel. Summary sheriffs deal exclusively with cases under summary procedure, and some advocates and solicitors serve as part-time sheriffs.
In 2014, Justice of the Peace courts replaced the previous district courts. In Justice of the Peace courts, lay justices of the peace work with a legally qualified clerk of court who gives advice on law and procedure. Justices of the peace handle minor criminal matters.
History
The head of the judiciary in Scotland is the Lord President of the Court of Session whose office dates back to 1532 with the creation of the College of Justice. Scotland's judiciary was historically a mixture of feudal, local, and national judicial offices. The first national, royal, justices were the justiciars established in the 12th century; with there being either two or 3 appointed. The justiciars and their deputes would go on circuit to hear the most serious of cases that could not be heard by the local feudal or sheriff courts, in a comparable manner to Assizes in England. In the Middle Ages, many Scots were subject to the local feudal lords, with only treason reserved to the royal courts. These feudal jurisdictions, called heritable jurisdictions, were abolished in 1747 by the Heritable Jurisdictions Act 1746.The sheriff courts developed in the Middle Ages as royal courts to challenge the authority of the local feudal courts, though the office of sheriff became itself a heritable jurisdiction with a legally qualified sheriff-depute the effective judge. The jurisdiction of the sheriffs was re-organised into twelve sheriffdoms following the passage of the Sheriff Courts Act 1870 The number of sheriffdoms was reduced to six in 1975, with only minor changes to the territorial extent of each sheriffdom since then.
Locally administered courts continued until the replacement of the district courts by justice of the peace courts in 2008, and now all Scottish courts are administered centrally, with all judges, except the Lord Lyon and the justices of the peace, appointed on the recommendation of the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland. Due to the volume of business, some legally qualified stipendiary magistrates sat in Glasgow, when following the Court Reform Act 2014 the office of stipendiary magistrate was abolished, and several stipendiary magistrates became summary sheriffs.
Today, the Scottish judiciary are divided into the Senior Judges, the Senators of the College of Justice, the Chairman of the Scottish Land Court, the Lord Lyon, the Sheriffs Principal, the Appeal Sheriffs, Sheriffs, Part-time Sheriffs, Summary Sheriffs, Part-Time Summary Sheriffs, Justices of the Peace, and Tribunal Judges.
Judicial officer holders
Lord President of the Court of Session
The Lord President of the Court of Session is the head of the country's judiciary and the presiding judge of the College of Justice The current Lord President is Lord Carloway, who was appointed in December 2015 having previously served as Lord Justice Clerk When presiding over criminal cases in the High Court of Justiciary the Lord President is known as the Lord Justice-General, an office that can be traced back to the ancient justiciars. In 1830, the Court of Session Act 1830 united the offices of Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General, with the person appointed as Lord President assuming the office of Lord Justice General ex officio.The Lord President presides over the 1st Division of the Inner House of the Court of Session, and will often hear appeals that raise significant or important points of law.
The Lord President was made head of a unified judiciary as a result of the passage of the Judiciary and Courts Act 2008 by the Scottish Parliament. In his role as Head of the Judiciary he is supported by the Judicial Office for Scotland, and the Lord President chairs the corporate board of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. The Judicial Office is administered by an executive director of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. The Lord President, and the wider judiciary, is advised on matters relating to the administration of justice by the Judicial Council for Scotland, which is a non-statutory body established in 2007. There had been plans for a statutory judges' council but these plans were abandoned in favour of a non-statutory council convened by the Lord President.
Lord Justice Clerk
The Lord Justice Clerk is the second most senior judge in Scotland, after the Lord President of the Court of Session. The Lord Justice Clerk presides over the 2nd Division of the Inner House of the Court of Session. The current Lord Justice Clerk is Lady Dorrian, who was appointed to the position on 13 April 2016.The office of Lord Justice Clerk can be traced back to the clerk of court to King's Court, later the Justiciary Court, which was normally the responsibility of the Justiciar. The Justiciar normally appointed several deputes to assist in the administration of justice, and to preside in his absence. The clerk was legally qualified and advised the Justiciar and his deputes on the law, as they were generally noblemen without any legal education or experience as practising lawyers. This clerk prepared all the indictments and was keeper of the records. Eventually the influence of the clerk increased until the clerk gained both a vote in the court, and a seat on the bench as the Justice-Clerk. When the High Court of Justiciary was established in its modern form by the Courts Act 1672, the position of the Lord Justice Clerk was given a statutory basis. The Lord Justice-General was president of the Court, and the Justice-Clerk vice-president. During the period when the office of Lord Justice-General was held by noblemen the Lord Justice-Clerk was virtual head of the Justiciary Court.
Senators of the College of Justice
The Senators of the College of Justice are judges of the College of Justice and sit in either the Court of Session or the High Court of Justiciary The Chairman of the Scottish Land Court ranks as a Senator but is always referred to by his judicial office. Whilst the High Court and Court of Session historically maintained separate judiciary, these are now one and the same, and the term, Senator, is almost ordinarily used in referring to the judges of these courts. When a Senator sits as judge in the Outer House of the Court of Session they are referred to as a Lord Ordinary.Ten senators will sit in the Inner House of the Court of Session, where they will hear appeals against decisions made by the Outer House, the Sheriff Appeal Court, or judgments made by a sheriff principal. The remaining senators will sit as judges of the Outer House. Additional duties include a senator being appointed as President of Scottish Tribunals, or Chairman of the Scottish Law Commission.
To be eligible for appointment as a senator a person must have served at least 5 years as sheriff or sheriff principal, been an advocate for 5 years, a solicitor with 5 years rights of audience before the Court of Session or High Court of Justiciary, or been a Writer to the Signet for 10 years
Under the Treason Act 1708 it is treason to kill any of the Senators of the College of Justice when they are sitting in judgment and in exercise of their office.
Chairman of the Scottish Land Court
The chairman of the Scottish Land Court, who is also appointed as president of the Lands Tribunal for Scotland, has the same rank and tenure as a senator of the College of Justice, but does not number as a member of the College of Justice. The office of chairman was created with the founding of the Scottish Land Court in 1991 by the Small Landholders Act 1911 which has a responsibility for hearing cases relating to agricultural tenancies and crofting. The chairman is supported by a deputy chairman who holds the office of sheriff. The chairman is legally qualified, and must satisfy the same eligibility criteria as a senator: that is, they must have served at least 5 years as sheriff or sheriff principal, been an advocate for 5 years, a solicitor with 5 years rights of audience before the Court of Session or High Court of Justiciary, or been a Writer to the Signet for 10 yearsWhen founded, the Scottish Land Court, and its judiciary, were a separate administration to the Court of Session, High Court of Justiciary and sheriff courts. The enactment of the Judiciary and Courts Act 2008 sought to create a unified judiciary for Scotland, and so The Judiciary and Courts Act 2008 Order 2017 transferred responsibility for the administration of the court to the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service, and made the chairman and deputy chairman part of the unified Scottish judiciary under the Lord President.
The current chairman of the Scottish Land Court is Lord Minginish who was appointed by the monarch on 1 October 2014, having previously served as deputy chairman. His nomination by First Minister Alex Salmond was made following a recommendation of the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland. At the same time he was also appointed by the Scottish Ministers as president of the Lands Tribunal for Scotland.