The Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General is the most senior judge in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, the Court of Session, and the High Court of Justiciary. The Lord President holds the title of Lord Justice General of Scotland and the head of the High Court of Justiciary ex officio, as the two offices were combined in 1836. The Lord President has authority over any court established under Scots law, except for the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and the Court of the Lord Lyon.
The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh and is both a trial court and a court of appeal. The court was established in 1532 by an Act of the Parliament of Scotland, and was initially presided over by the Lord Chancellor of Scotland and had equal numbers of clergy and laity. The judges were all appointed from the King's Council. As of May 2017, the Lord President was Lord Carloway, who was appointed on 19 December 2015, and the Lord Justice Clerk was Lady Dorrian, who was appointed on 13 April 2016.
The High Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. The High Court is both a trial court and a court of appeal. As a trial court, the High Court sits on circuit at Parliament House or in the adjacent former Sheriff Court building in the Old Town in Edinburgh, or in dedicated buildings in Glasgow and Aberdeen. The High Court sometimes sits in various smaller towns in Scotland, where it uses the local sheriff court building. As an appeal court, the High Court sits only in Edinburgh. On one occasion the High Court of Justiciary sat outside Scotland, at Zeist in the Netherlands during the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial, as the Scottish Court in the Netherlands. At Zeist the High Court sat both as a trial court, and an appeal court for the initial appeal by Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
William Douglas Cullen, Baron Cullen of Whitekirk is a former senior member of the Scottish judiciary. He formerly served as Lord Justice General and Lord President of the Court of Session, and was an additional Lord of Appeal in the House of Lords prior to the transfer of its judicial functions to the Supreme Court.
The Lord Justice Clerk is the second most senior judge in Scotland, after the Lord President of the Court of Session. The current Lord Justice Clerk is Leeona Dorrian, Lady Dorrian, who was appointed to the position on 13 April 2016. in June 2024 Lady Dorrian has announced her intention to retire from judicial office on 3 February 2025.
Edinburgh Law School, founded in 1707, is a school within the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom dedicated to research and teaching in law. It is located in the historic Old College, the original site of the University. Two of the twelve currently sitting Supreme Court of the United Kingdom justices are graduates of Edinburgh, including the current President and Deputy President.
Brian Gill, Lord Gill, KSG FRSE FRSAMD FRSCM is a retired Scottish judge and legal academic. Lord Gill was Lord President and Lord Justice General and held that position for three years from 2012 until 2015. His 2007 to 2009 consultation and report into the failings of the Scottish legal system was followed by a major overhaul of the entire court system once he had been appointed Lord President.
Alan Ferguson Rodger, Baron Rodger of Earlsferry was a Scottish academic, lawyer, and Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
The College of Justice includes the Supreme Courts of Scotland, and its associated bodies.
John Beckett, Lord Beckett is a Scottish lawyer who was appointed in 2016 as a Senator of the College of Justice, a judge of the Court of Session.
Francis Mulholland, Lord Mulholland, is a Scottish judge who has been a Senator of the College of Justice since 2016. He previously served from 2011 to 2016 as Lord Advocate, one of the Great Officers of State of Scotland and the country's chief Law Officer, and as Solicitor General, the junior Law Officer.
Hugh Matthews, Lord Matthews is a Senator of the College of Justice, a judge of Scotland's Supreme Courts.
John Francis Wheatley, Lord Wheatley, PC is a Scottish lawyer and retired Senator of the College of Justice, a judge of the Supreme Courts of Scotland, sitting in the High Court of Justiciary and the Inner House of the Court of Session. He is an authority on road traffic law. His father, John Wheatley, Baron Wheatley, was Lord Justice Clerk between 1972 and 1985, the second-most senior judge in Scotland.
Leeona June Dorrian, Lady DorrianPC, KC is a Scottish advocate and judge who has served as the Lord Justice Clerk since 2016. She is the first woman to hold the position. She has been a Senator of the College of Justice since 2005, having served as a temporary judge for three years prior.
The School of Law at the University of Glasgow provides undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Law, and awards the degrees of Bachelor of Laws, Master of Laws, LLM by Research, Master of Research (MRes) and Doctor of Philosophy, the degree of Doctor of Laws being awarded generally only as an honorary degree.
The importance of corroboration is unique to Scots criminal law. A long-standing feature of Scots law, the requirement for corroborating evidence means at least two independent sources of evidence are required in support of each crucial fact before an accused can be convicted of a crime. This means, for example, that an admission of guilt by the accused is insufficient evidence to convict in Scotland, because that evidence needs to be corroborated by another source.
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.
Sarah Poyntell LaBudde Wolffe, Lady Wolffe is an American-born Scottish lawyer and judge who is currently a professor at the University of Strathclyde. She previously served as Senator of the College of Justice from 2014 to 2021. Wolffe was the first US-born member of the Scottish judiciary and the first woman appointed as a Commercial Judge in the Court of Session.
Andrew Fleming Stewart, Lord Ericht is a Scottish lawyer who was appointed in 2016 as a Senator of the College of Justice, a judge of the Court of Session.
The Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 is an Act of the Scottish Parliament which reformed criminal practice and procedure in Scotland. The act was intended to "modernise and enhance the efficiency of the Scottish criminal justice system".
