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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.
A sheriff court is the principal local civil and criminal court in Scotland,with exclusive jurisdiction over all civil cases with a monetary value up to £100,000,and with the jurisdiction to hear any criminal case except treason,murder,and rape,which are in the exclusive jurisdiction of the High Court of Justiciary. Though the sheriff courts have concurrent jurisdiction with the High Court over armed robbery,drug trafficking,and sexual offences involving children,the vast majority of these cases are heard by the High Court. Each court serves a sheriff court district within one of the six sheriffdoms of Scotland. Each sheriff court is presided over by a sheriff,who is a legally qualified judge,and part of the judiciary of Scotland.
In Scotland a sheriff principal is a judge in charge of a sheriffdom with judicial,quasi-judicial,and administrative responsibilities. Sheriffs principal have been part of the judiciary of Scotland since the 11th century. Sheriffs principal were originally appointed by the monarch of Scotland,and evolved into a heritable jurisdiction before appointment was again vested in the Crown and the monarch of the United Kingdom following the passage of the Heritable Jurisdictions (Scotland) Act 1746.
Arthur Campbell Hamilton,Lord Hamilton,,is a Scottish judge and served as Lord Justice General and Lord President of the Court of Session from November 2005 until 8 June 2012,succeeding Lord Cullen.
The Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland is an advisory non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for making recommendations on appointments to certain offices of the judiciary of Scotland. It was established in June 2002 on a non-statutory,ad hoc,basis by the Scottish Government,and was given statutory authority by the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008.
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.
The Scottish Land Court is a Scottish court of law based in Edinburgh with subject-matter jurisdiction covering disputes between landlords and tenants relating to agricultural tenancies,and matters related to crofts and crofters. The Scottish Land Court is both a trial court and an appeal court;hearings at first-instance are often heard by a Divisional Court of one of the Agricultural Members advised by the Principal Clerk. Decisions of the Divisional Court can be appealed to the Full Court,which will consist of at least one legally qualified judicial member and the remaining Agricultural Member. Some cases are heard at first-instance by the Full Court,and these cases may be appealed to the Inner House 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.
Robert John Reed,Baron Reed of Allermuir,is a Scottish judge who has been President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom since January 2020. He was the principal judge in the Commercial Court in Scotland before being promoted to the Inner House of the Court of Session in 2008. He is an authority on human rights law in Scotland and elsewhere;he served as one of the UK's ad hoc judges at the European Court of Human Rights. He was also a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong.
Ann Paton,Lady Paton,is a Scottish advocate and judge. She is a Senator of the College of Justice,sitting in the High Court of Justiciary and the Inner House of the Court of Session. In 2019 she became the Chairman of the Scottish Law Commission. Paton is currently Scotland's longest-serving female judge and was the second woman ever appointed as a Senator of the College of Justice,after Lady Cosgrove.
Colin John MacLean Sutherland,Lord Carloway,is a Scottish advocate and judge who has served as the Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General since 2015. He was previously Lord Justice Clerk from 2012 to 2015 and has been a Senator of the College of Justice since 2000. On 4 June 2024 Lord Carloway announced his intention to retire from judicial office in early 2025.
Iain Duncan Macphail,Lord Macphail was a Scottish lawyer and Senator of the College of Justice,a judge of the country's Supreme Courts.
Scots law is the legal system of Scotland. It is a hybrid or mixed legal system containing civil law and common law elements,that traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. Together with English law and Northern Irish law,it is one of the three legal systems of the United Kingdom. Scots law recognises four sources of law:legislation,legal precedent,specific academic writings,and custom. Legislation affecting Scotland and Scots law is passed by the Scottish Parliament on all areas of devolved responsibility,and the United Kingdom Parliament on reserved matters. Some legislation passed by the pre-1707 Parliament of Scotland is still also valid.
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.
Ailsa Jane Carmichael,Lady Carmichael is a Scottish advocate and judge who has served as a Senator of the College of Justice since 2016.
The Sheriff Appeal Court is a court in Scotland that hears appeals from summary criminal proceedings in the sheriff courts and justice of the peace courts,and hears appeals on bail decisions made in solemn proceedings in the sheriff court. The Sheriff Appeal Court also hears appeals in civil cases from the sheriff courts,including the Sheriff Personal Injury Court.
The Sheriff Principal of Glasgow and Strathkelvin is the head of the judicial system of the sheriffdom of Glasgow and Strathkelvin,one of the six sheriffdoms covering the whole of Scotland. The current sheriffdoms were created in 1975 to replace the previous arrangement of 12 sheriffdoms. The sheriffdom of Glasgow and Strathkelvin maintains a single Sheriff Court based in Glasgow.
References
- ↑ "Sheriff Principal Appointed". Scottish Government. 22 July 2016.
- ↑ "Sheriff citicises delay in bringing Clutha FAI". Scottish Legal News. 30 October 2019.
- ↑ "Judicial Appointments, Transfers and Retirement". Judiciary of Scotland. 19 January 2023.
- ↑ "New senator installed at the College of Justice". Judiciary of Scotland. 19 May 2023.
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