Senator 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); Lords Commissioner of Justiciary (judges of the High Court of Justiciary); and the Chairman of the Scottish Land Court. Whilst the High Court and Court of Session historically maintained separate judiciary, these are now one and the same, and the term, Senator, is almost exclusively used in referring to the judges of these courts.

Senators of the College use the title Lord or Lady along with a surname or a territorial name. Note, however, that some Senators have a peerage title, which would be used instead of the senatorial title. All Senators of the College have the honorific, The Honourable, before their titles, while those who are also Privy Counsellors or peers have the honorific, The Right Honourable. Senators are made Privy Counsellors upon promotion to the Inner House.

Under section 11 of the Treason Act 1708, it is treason to kill a Senator of the College of Justice "sitting in Judgment in the Exercise of their Office within Scotland".

History

In the past other officers of state were included as Senators, including the Lord Advocate, Lord Clerk Register, Master of Requests and the Secretary of State.

List of Senators

The Court of Session Act 1988 limits the number of Senators of the College of Justice (aside from the Chairman of the Scottish Land Court, who ranks as a Senator) to 34.

Inner House

The Lord President is the president of the First Division, and the Lord Justice Clerk is the president of the Second Division. The puisne judges are limited to five assigned to each of those two divisions.

	Senator	Mandatory retirement	Inner House appointment	Outer House appointment	Division
1	The Rt Hon. Lord Carloway (Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General)	20 May 2024	August 2008	February 2000	First
2	(Lord Justice Clerk)				Second
3	The Rt Hon. Lord Eassie	2015	October 2006	1997	First
4	The Rt Hon. Lady Paton	2022	April 2007	January 2000	Second
5	The Rt Hon. Lord Menzies	28 August 2023	February 2012	2001	First
6	The Rt Hon. Lady Smith	16 March 2025	November 2012	2001	First
7	The Rt Hon. Lord Brodie	14 July 2020	November 2012	2002	First
8	The Rt Hon. Lady Dorrian	16 June 2017	November 2012	2005	Second
9	The Rt Hon. Lord Bracadale	18 September 2019	1 March 2013	2003	Second
10	The Rt Hon. Lord Drummond Young	17 February 2020	June 2013	2001	Second
11	The Rt Hon. The Lady Clark of Calton PC	26 February 2019	1 October 2013	2006	First
12	The Rt. Hon. Lord Malcolm	1 October 2023	1 July 2014	2007	Second

Outer House

	Senator	Mandatory retirement	Appointment
13	The Hon. Lord Glennie	3 December 2020	2005
14	The Hon. Lord Kinclaven	2 June 2021	2005
15	The Hon. Lord Turnbull		2006
16	The Hon. Lord Brailsford	16 August 2024	2006
17	The Hon. Lord Uist	1 February 2021	April 2006
18	The Hon. Lord Matthews	4 December 2028	2007
19	The Hon. Lord Woolman	16 May 2023	March 2008
20	The Hon. Lord Pentland (Chair of the Scottish Law Commission)	11 March 2027	November 2008
21	The Hon. Lord Bannatyne		November 2008
22	The Hon. Lady Stacey	25 May 2024	January 2009
23	The Hon. Lord Tyre	17 April 2026	May 2010
24	The Hon. Lord Doherty	30 January 2028	May 2010
25	The Hon. Lord Stewart	14 December 2016	November 2010
26	The Rt Hon. The Lord Boyd of Duncansby PC	7 June 2023	26 June 2012
27	The Hon. Lord Jones		11 July 2012
29	The Hon. Lord Burns		12 July 2012
30	The Hon. Lady Scott	2030	2 November 2012
31	The Hon. Lady Wise		6 February 2013
32	The Hon. Lord Armstrong		15 February 2013
33	The Hon. Lady Rae	20 June 2020	14 January 2014
34	The Hon. Lady Wolffe		11 March 2014

Retired judges

There are also some retired judges who still sit occasionally in the Court of Session or the Court of Criminal Appeal to hear cases if needed when there is a shortage of available judges. They are also called Senators of the College of Justice. There are (as of October 2015) 12 retired judges available to sit as judges:

	Senator	Becomes ineligible to act as a judge	Appointment	Retirement
1	The Rt Hon. Lord Wheatley	9 May 2016	2000	2001
2	The Rt Hon. Lord Gill	25 February 2017	1994	2015
3	The Rt Hon. Lord Hamilton	10 June 2017	1995	2012
4	The Rt Hon. Lord Philip	3 August 2017	1996	2007
5	The Rt Hon. Lord Nimmo Smith	6 November 2017	1996	2009
6	The Hon. Lord McEwan	12 December 2018	2000	2008
7	The Rt Hon. The Lord Hardie	8 January 2021	2000	2012
8	The Rt Hon. Lady Cosgrove	12 January 2021	1996	2006
9	The Rt Hon. Lord Bonomy	15 January 2021	1997	2012
10	The Rt Hon. The Lord Mackay of Drumadoon	30 January 2021	2000	2013
11	The Rt Hon. Lord Emslie	17 April 2022	2001	2012
12	The Rt. Hon. Lord Kingarth	21 June 2024	1997	2010

See also

• Historic List of Senators of the College of Justice
• Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
• List of Lords Justices of Appeal
• List of High Court judges of England and Wales

External links

• Biographies of Senators