The Inner House is the senior part of the Court of Session, the supreme

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

; the

Outer House The Outer House (abbreviated as CSOH in neutral citations) is one of the two parts of the Scottish Court of Session, which is the supreme civil court in Scotland. It is a court of first instance, although some statutory appeals are remitted t ...

forms the junior part of the Court of Session. It is a court of appeal and a

court of first instance A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accorda ...

. The chief justice is the Lord President, with their deputy being the

Lord Justice Clerk The Lord Justice Clerk is the second most senior judge in Scotland, after the Lord President of the Court of Session. Originally ''clericus justiciarie'' or Clerk to the Court of Justiciary, the counterpart in the criminal courts of the Lord ...

, and judges of the Inner House are styled ''

Senators of the College of Justice The senators of the College of Justice 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 (judges of the Court of Session); ...

'' or '' Lords of Council and Session''.Information on composition: Criminal appeals in

are handled by the

High Court of Justiciary 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 Cour ...

sitting as the Court of Appeal. The Inner House is the part of the Court of Session which acts as a court of appeal for cases from the Outer House and from appeals in civil cases from the Court of the Lord Lyon,

Scottish Land Court 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 Scotti ...

, and the

Lands Tribunal for Scotland The Lands Tribunal for Scotland is a tribunal with jurisdiction over land and property in Scotland, relating to title obligations, compulsory purchase and other private rights. The Tribunal was established under the Lands Tribunal Act 1949, whi ...

. It will hear appeals on

questions of law In law, a question of law, also known as a point of law, is a question that must be answered by applying relevant legal principles to interpretation of the law. Such a question is distinct from a question of fact, which must be answered by referenc ...

from the Sheriff Appeal Court. It will also sit as a court of first instance in rare instances. The Inner House is always a panel of at least three senators and does not sit with a jury. The division of the Court into two houses was first enacted by the

Court of Session Act 1810 The Court of Session Act 1810 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (citation ''50 Geo. III c. 112'') reforming Scotland's highest court, the Court of Session. This Act was a follow-up Act to the Court of Session Act 1808 in reformin ...

and most recently confirmed by the

Court of Session Act 1988 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 ...

Remit and jurisdiction

First instance jurisdiction

The Inner House will sit as a court of first instance in respect of special cases, where the facts are not disputed but where a significant legal difficulty has arisen. Such a case may be appealed to another panel of the Inner House, but constituted with a greater number of senators than the initial panel. Further appeals are also possible to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

Appellate jurisdiction

Almost all hearings in the Inner House are before three judges, although in important cases in which there is a conflict of authority a court of five judges or, exceptionally, seven, may be convened. The Inner House is sub-divided into two divisions of equal authority and jurisdiction - the First Division, headed by the Lord President; and the Second Division headed by the Lord Justice Clerk. The courts to hear each case are, ordinarily, drawn from these divisions. When neither is available to chair a hearing, an Extra Division of three senators is summoned, chaired by the most senior judge present; due to pressure of business this Extra Division sits frequently nowadays. The appellate jurisdiction of the Inner House was substantially altered by the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 which created the Sheriff Appeal Court, which now sees civil appeals being heard by an Appeal Sheriff sitting in the Sheriff Appeal Court. Such appeals are binding on all sheriff courts in Scotland, and appeals can only be remitted (transferred) to the Inner House where they are deemed to be of wider public interest, raise a significant

point of law In law, a question of law, also known as a point of law, is a question that must be answered by applying relevant legal principles to interpretation of the law. Such a question is distinct from a question of fact, which must be answered by reference ...

, or are particularly complex: Section 48 of the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 establishes the precedent of judgments in the Sheriff Appeal Court, so that when the Sheriff Appeal Court makes a decision on a question of law, it is binding in every sheriffdom for every sheriff court and every justice of the peace court. The decision is also binding on the Sheriff Appeal Court, unless it convenes a bench with a greater number of Appeal Sheriffs than the original court.

Appeals to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

Unlike the

, which deals with Scottish criminal cases, and whose decisions cannot in general be appealed beyond Scotland, appeals could be taken from the Court of Session to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The constitutional settlement introduced by the

Scotland Act 1998 The Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which legislated for the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament with tax varying powers and the Scottish Government (then Scottish Executive). It was o ...

further provided that, in cases where a 'devolution issue' arose, an appeal would lie, and the Inner House can remit a case, to the

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Aug ...

. Both these types of appeal will go instead to the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 2009. It was formerly argued that the Act of Union 1707 expressly forbade appeals from the Court of Session to the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries this was a matter of great concern, as Scottish cases were typically decided by

Law Lords Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...

with no background in Scots Law. In modern times, the few cases which were so appealed were heard by a judicial committee of five which included at least two senior Scottish judges, but the existence of this right of appeal has been criticised. This debate also spilled into the debate as to whether the judicial functions of the House of Lords and Privy Council should be consolidated in a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The ability to appeal to the House of Lords was confirmed by the Court of Session Act 1988.

References

External links