Court of Session

The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland. It is both a court of first instance and a court of appeal and sits exclusively in Parliament House in Edinburgh.

The Sheriff Court is the other Scottish civil court; this sits locally. Although the two courts have a largely co-extensive jurisdiction, with the choice of court being given in the first place to the pursuer (petitioner), the vast majority of difficult or high-value cases in Scotland are brought in the Court of Session. Legal aid, administered by the Scottish Legal Aid Board, may be available.

Modelled on the Parlement of Paris when it was first founded by King James V in 1532, the Court of Session is notionally a unitary collegiate court, with all judges other than the Lord President and the Lord Justice Clerk holding the same rank and title - Senator of the College of Justice and also Lord/Lady of Council and Session. The number of judges is now thirty-four (four of whom are women); there are also a number of temporary judges, who are typically either sheriffs or Advocates in private practice. The judges sit also in the High Court of Justiciary, and the Lord President is also, as president of that court, the Lord Justice General.

The Court of Session has extensive powers to regulate its own procedures and practice by Acts of Sederunt. These are generally incorporated into the Rules of Court, which are published by the Scottish Court Service. Members of the Faculty of Advocates, known as advocate or counsel and corresponding approximately to a barrister, have practically exclusive rights of audience; although since 1990 some solicitors, known as solicitor-advocates, have a right of audience, few will exercise it in cases of any difficulty and these only rarely.

The Court of Session Act 1810, divided the Court into the Outer House and the Inner House.

The Outer House

The Outer House is a court of first instance, although some statutory appeals are remitted to it by the Inner House. Judges in the Outer House are referred to as Lord or Lady [name], or as Lord Ordinary. They sit singly, sometimes with a jury of twelve in personal injury and defamation actions. Jurisdiction is extensive and extends to all kinds of civil claims unless expressly excluded by statute. Some classes of cases, such as intellectual property disputes, are heard by designated judges.

Final (and some important procedural) judgments of the Outer House may be appealed to the Inner House. Other judgments may be so appealed with leave.

The Inner House

The Inner House is the senior part of the Court of Session, it is a court of appeal and a court of first instance. Criminal appeals in Scotland are handled by the High Court of Justiciary 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 Sheriff Courts, the Court of the Lord Lyon, Scottish Land Court, and the Lands Tribunal for Scotland. 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.

Unlike in the High Court of Justiciary, there is a right of appeal to the House of Lords from the Inner House. However, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 this right of appeal will move from the House of Lords to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom when it begins sitting. The right of appeal only exists when the Court of Session grants leave to this effect or when the decisions of the Inner House are by majority.

Exchequer causes

The Court is the Court of Exchequer for Scotland. Prior to 1856 the jurisdiction for exchequer causes was that of the Court of Exchequer, which has been transferred to the Court of Session with one of the Lords Ordinary required to be Lord Ordinary in Exchequer Causes, this was restated by the Court of Session Act 1988.

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