The Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General is the most senior

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, the

Court of Session 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 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 An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term '' ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...

'', as the two offices were combined in 1836. The Lord President has authority over any court established under

Scots law 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 Ireland l ...

, except for the

Supreme Court of the United Kingdom The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC or the acronym: SCOTUK) is the final court of appeal in the United Kingdom for all civil cases, and for criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. As the Unite ...

and the

Court of the Lord Lyon The Court of the Lord Lyon (the Lyon Court) is a standing court of law, based in New Register House in Edinburgh, which regulates heraldry in Scotland. The Lyon Court maintains the register of grants of arms, known as the Public Register of All A ...

. The current Lord President of the Court of Session is Lord Carloway, who was appointed to the position on 18 December 2015. They are paid according to salary group 1.1 of the Judicial Salaries Scale, which in 2016 was £222,862.

Remit and jurisdiction

Head of the judiciary

As Lord President of the Court of Session and is the most senior

in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, and the

. Under Section 2(6) of the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008, the Lord President has authority over the judiciary of any court established under

, except for the

and the

. The Scottish Land Court, which until 1 April 2017 was administered separately, was transferred to the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. The 2008 act states: 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 (Scotland) Act 2008, and the Lord President chairs the corporate board 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.

Inner House

The Lord President presides over the 1st Division of the Inner House of the Court of Session. The Inner House is the part of the Court of Session which acts as a

court of appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

for cases decided the Outer House and

Sheriff Appeal Court 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. ...

, and hearing appeals on questions of law from the

, Scottish Land Court,

, and the Lands Tribunal for Scotland.

Official Oath

In Scotland the Official Oath is taken before the Lord President of the Court of Session.

Lord Justice General

The Lord President is also the Lord Justice General of Scotland and the head of the High Court of Justiciary ''ex officio'', with the two offices having been combined in 1836.The office of Lord Justice General is derived from the

justiciar Justiciar is the English form of the medieval Latin term ''justiciarius'' or ''justitiarius'' ("man of justice", i.e. judge). During the Middle Ages in England, the Chief Justiciar (later known simply as the Justiciar) was roughly equivalent ...

s who were appointed from at least the twelfth century. From around 1567 onwards it was held heritably by the Earl of Argyll until the heritability was resigned to the Crown in 1607.

Officeholders

Justiciars

(called Lord Chief Justices by

Scot of Scotstarvet Sir John Scot, Lord Scotstarvit (1585–1670), was a Scottish laird, advocate, judge, politician and author. He was Director of Chancery and a Lord of Session. His surname is often spelt as Scott, and Scotstarvit is also spelt as Scotstarvet or ...

). * Argadus, Captain of Argyll, in the reign of Ethodius * Comes Dunetus; in the reign of King William the Lion. ( Donnchad II, Earl of Fife) * William Comyn * Richard Comyn * David, Earl of Huntingdon (died 1219) * Walter Clifford, Justiciary of the Lothians * 1216: Allan, Justiciary to King Alexander II * 1224: William Cumin, Earl of Buchan * Walter (died 1241), son of Allan High Steward of Scotland * 1239: William, Earl of Ross, "Lord Chief Justice of Scotland" * Alexander (d.1283), High Steward of Scotland to King Alexander II * 1253: Alexander Cumin, Earl of Buchan * 1366: Robert de Erskine, Justiciary South of the Forth for King David II * bef 1372: Alan de Lawedre of The Bass, Whitslaid, & Haltoun, Justiciary South of the Forth, (he received a pension for holding this post in 1374). * 1437: James Douglas, Earl of Avondale and Lord Balveny * 1446: Patrick de Ogilvy, Justiciary South of the Forth * 1457: John, Lord Lindsay of the Byres, Justiciary South of the Forth * William Sinclair, 3rd Earl of Orkney & Caithness (d.1480), Justiciary North of the Forth for King

James II James II may refer to: * James II of Avesnes (died c. 1205), knight of the Fourth Crusade * James II of Majorca (died 1311), Lord of Montpellier * James II of Aragon (1267–1327), King of Sicily * James II, Count of La Marche (1370–1438), King C ...

* 1477: John Haldane of Gleneagles, Justiciary North of the Forth * Patrick Hepburn, 1st Lord Hailes (died after 1482), and Robert, 2nd Lord Lyle, Justiciaries South of the Forth * Andrew, Earl of Crawfurd, and George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly, Justiciaries North of the Forth * 1488:

Robert Lyle, 2nd Lord Lyle Robert Lyle, 2nd Lord Lyle (died 1497) was a Scottish nobleman from Duchal Castle in Renfrewshire. He was at one point a loyal supporter of King James III and served as an ambassador to England in the 1470s and 1480s. During his service, Lord Lyl ...

(died c. 1497), "Lord Chief Justice" * 1489: John Lyon, 3rd Lord Glamis (died 1 April 1497), and John Drummond, 1st Lord Drummond: "Justice-General" * 1492:

, and John Lyon, 3rd Lord Glamis * 1494: John Drummond, 1st Lord Drummond (died c1519) * 1504: Andrew Gray, 2nd Lord Gray, and John Kennedy, 2nd Lord Kennedy * 1514: Colin Campbell, 3rd Earl of Argyll * 1526: Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie * 1532: Alexander Mylne,

Abbot of Cambuskenneth The Abbot of Cambuskenneth or Abbot of Stirling (later Commendator of Cambuskenneth) was the head of the Arrouaisian (Augustinian) monastic community of Cambuskenneth Abbey, near Stirling. The long history of the abbey came to a formal end when th ...

* 1537: Archibald Campbell, 4th Earl of Argyll * 1567: Sir Colin Campbell, 6th Earl of Argyll, (d.1584) (heritably) * 1578: Sir Colin Campbell, 6th Earl of Argyll, (re-appointment?) * 1589: Archibald Campbell, 7th Earl of Argyll, (who exchanged the heritable office of Lord Chief Justice in 1607, for the heritable Lieutenancy of Argyll and Lorn, and most of The Isles).

Lord Justice-General

Lord President

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lord President of the Court of Session Lists of judges in Scotland