Senator of the College of Justice
The senators of the College of Justice in Scotland are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of senator: Lords of Session ; Lords Commissioners of Justiciary ; and the Chairman of the Scottish Land Court. Whilst the High Court and Court of Session historically maintained separate judiciary, these are now identical, and the term senator is almost exclusively used in referring to the judges of these courts.
Senators of the college use the judicial courtesy title of Lord or Lady along with a surname or a territorial name. Note, however, that some senators have a peerage title, which would be used instead of the senatorial title. All senators of the college have the honorific, The Honourable, before their titles, while those who are also privy counsellors or peers have the honorific, The Right Honourable. Senators are made privy counsellors upon promotion to the Inner House, the senior part of the Court of Session.
Under section 11 of the Treason Act 1708, it is treason to kill a senator of the College of Justice "sitting in Judgment in the Exercise of their Office within Scotland".
History
, King's Advocate, was one of the nine advocates appointed at the institution of the College of Justice.Originally, some officers of state were included as senators, including the Lord Advocate, Lord Clerk Register, Master of Requests and the Secretary of State.
List of senators
The Court of Session Act 1988, when enacted, limited the number of senators of the College of Justice to 24. This was subsequently increased to 25 in 1991, 27 in 1993, 32 in 1999, 34 in 2004, 35 in 2016, and most recently 36 by The Maximum Number of Judges Order 2022. The current judges are as follows.Inner House
The Lord President is the president of the First Division, and the Lord Justice Clerk is the president of the Second Division.| Senator | Mandatory retirement | Inner House appointment | Outer House appointment | Division | |
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| 12 | The Hon. Lord Arthurson |
Outer House
Chair of the Scottish Land Court
The chair of the Scottish Land Court has the same rank and tenure as a judge of the Court of Session but does not count towards the maximum number of judges permitted in the Court of Session.| Senator | Mandatory retirement | Appointment | |
| 1 |
Retired judges
There are also some retired judges who still sit occasionally in the Court of Session or the Court of Criminal Appeal to hear cases if needed when there is a shortage of available judges. They are also called senators of the College of Justice. As of 2025, 1 retired judge is available to sit:| Senator | Becomes ineligible to act as a judge | Appointment | Retirement | |
| 1 |