| Post: | Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General of Scotland |
| Native Name: | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Àrd-mhorair Cùirt an t-Seisein |
| Insignia: | Logo of the lord president.svg |
| Insigniasize: | 200 |
| Incumbent: | Lord Carloway |
| Incumbentsince: | 18 December 2015 |
| Style: | The Right Honourable |
| Appointer: | Monarch on the advice of the First Minister |
| Termlength: | Life tenure with compulsory retirement at 75 |
| Formation: | 1532 |
| Deputy: | Lord Justice Clerk |
| Inaugural: | Alexander Mylne, Abbot of Cambuskenneth |
| Website: | Roles and Jurisdiction Judicial Office for Scotland |
| Salary: | £222,862 (Salary Group 1.1) |
The Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General (Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Àrd-mhorair Cùirt an t-Seisein) 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 current Lord President of the Court of Session is Lord Carloway, who was appointed to the position on 18 December 2015. In June 2024 Lord Carloway announced he would retire from judicial office in early 2025.[1] They are paid according to salary group 1.1 of the Judicial Salaries Scale, which in 2016 was £222,862.
As Lord President of the Court of Session and is the most senior judge in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, and the Court of Session.[2] 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 Scots law, except for the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and the Court of the Lord Lyon. The Scottish Land Court, which until 1 April 2017 was administered separately, was transferred to the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service.[3] 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.[4] [5] [6]
The Lord President presides over the 1st Division of the Inner House of the Court of Session.[7] The Inner House is the part of the Court of Session which acts as a court of appeal for cases decided the Outer House and Sheriff Appeal Court, and hearing appeals on questions of law from the Sheriff Appeal Court, Scottish Land Court, Court of the Lord Lyon, and the Lands Tribunal for Scotland.[8] [9]
In Scotland the Official Oath is taken before the Lord President of the Court of Session.[10]
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 justiciars 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.
See also: Justiciar of Scotia and Justiciar of Lothian. (called Lord Chief Justices by Scot of Scotstarvet).
| From | Until | Remarks | |
| 11 July 1628 | 8 November 1633 | ||
| 23 December 1635 | 13 November 1641 | ||
| 18 November 1641 | 23 August 1643 | ||
| 13 November 1646 | 15 February 1649 | ||
| 15 March 1649 | 9 August 1651 | ||
| 16 August 1661 | 21 May 1675 | ||
| 21 May 1675 | 5 May 1676 | ||
| 5 May 1676 | 30 September 1678 | ||
| 30 September 1678 | 1 June 1680 | ||
| 1 June 1680 | 1 March 1682 | ||
| 1 March 1682 | 13 June 1684 | ||
| 13 June 1684 | 3 August 1689 | ||
| 3 August 1689 | 15 February 1703 | ||
| 17 October 1704 | 23 October 1710 | ||
| 23 October 1710 | 15 April 1761 | ||
| 27 June 1761 | 9 December 1762 | ||
| 15 April 1763 | 22 October 1778 | ||
| 23 October 1778 | 1794 | ||
| 14 January 1795 | 30 December 1836 | ||
| From | Until | Remarks | ||
| Alexander Mylne, Abbot of Cambuskenneth | 1532 | 1543 | Abbot of Cambuskenneth (1519–1548) | |
| 1543 | 1558 | Abbot of Kinloss (1528–1553); Commendator of Beauly (1531–1553); Bishop of Orkney (1541–1558) | ||
| 1558 | 1565 | Commendator of Kilwinning (1541–1550); Dean of Glasgow (1550–1561); Bishop of Ross (1558–1565) | ||
| 1565 | 1566 | Appointed a Lord of Session, 1540; Bishop of Brechin (1565–1566) | ||
| 1566 | 1567 | |||
| 1567 | 1593 | Appointed a Lord of Session, 1561 | ||
| 1593 | 1604 | Appointed a Lord of Session, 1586; Provost of Edinburgh (1598–1608); Lord Chancellor of Scotland (1604–1622); Lord High Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland (1612–1621) | ||
| 1605 | 1609 | Appointed a Lord of Session, 1587; Secretary of State (1598–1609) | ||
| 1609 | 1616 | Appointed a Lord of Session, 1595 | ||
| 1616 | 1625 | Appointed a Lord of Session, 1592; Lord Advocate (1595–1596 and 1596–1612); Lord Clerk Register (1612) | ||
| Sir James Skene of Curriehill | 1626 | 1633 | Lord Clerk Register (1594–1612); Appointed a Lord of Session, 1594 | |
| 1633 | 1646 | Appointed a Lord of Session, 1622 | ||
| 1661 | 1671 | Commissioner for Edinburghshire (1661–1671) | ||
| 1671 | 1681 | Appointed a Lord of Session, 1661; Commissioner for Wigtownshire (1672–1674, 1678 and 1681–1682) | ||
| 1681 | 1682 | Commissioner for Aberdeenshire (1669–1674, 1678 and 1681–1682); Appointed a Lord of Session, 1680; Lord Chancellor of Scotland (1682–1684) | ||
| 1682 | 1685 | Appointed a Lord of Session, 1676; Commissioner for Forfarshire (1685) | ||
| 1685 | 31 March 1689 | Appointed Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, 1672; Commissioner for Lanarkshire (1681–1682 and 1685–1686) | ||
| 28 October 1689 | 25 November 1695 | Appointed a Lord of Session, 1661; Commissioner for Wigtownshire (1672–1674, 1678 and 1681–1682) | ||
| 17 March 1698 | 20 June 1737 | Commissioner for New Galloway (1690–1702); Dean of the Faculty of Advocates (1695–1698); Commissioner for North Berwick (1702–1707) | ||
| 20 June 1737 | 4 June 1748 | MP for Ayr Burghs (1721–1722); MP for Inverness Burghs (1722–1737); Lord Advocate (1725–1737) | ||
| 4 June 1748 | 26 August 1753 | Solicitor General for Scotland (1717–1720); Lord Advocate (1720–1725); MP for Midlothian (1722–1737); Senator of the College of Justice (1737–1753) | ||
| 22 January 1754 | 10 March 1760 | MP for Tain Burghs (1742–1747); Lord Advocate (1742–1746) | ||
| 30 April 1760 | 13 December 1787 | Solicitor General for Scotland (1742–1746); Dean of the Faculty of Advocates (1746–1760) Lord Advocate (1754–1760); MP for Midlothian (1754–1760) | ||
| 22 December 1787 | 27 September 1789 | MP for Dumfries Burghs (1761–1766); Solicitor General for Scotland (1759–1760); Lord Advocate (1760–1766); Lord Justice Clerk (1766–1787) | ||
| 26 October 1789 | 31 August 1808 | Solicitor General for Scotland (1783–1784); MP for Clyde Burghs (1784–1790); Lord Advocate (1784–1789) | ||
| 31 August 1808 | 20 May 1811 | Solicitor General for Scotland (1789–1806); Dean of the Faculty of Advocates (1801–1808) | ||
| 10 October 1811 | 20 July 1841 | Lord Advocate (1801–1804); MP for Dumfries Burghs (1802); MP for Edinburgh (1803–1805); Lord Justice Clerk (1804–1811) | ||
| 7 October 1841 | 5 May 1852 | MP for Ayrshire (1807–1811); Solicitor General for Scotland (1807–1811); Lord Justice Clerk (1811–1841) | ||
| 14 May 1852 | 25 February 1867 | MP for Argyllshire (1843–1851); Solicitor General for Scotland (1834–1835 & 1841–1842); Lord Advocate (1842–1846) | ||
| 25 February 1867 | 20 August 1891 | MP for Stamford (1858); Solicitor General for Scotland (1852); Lord Advocate (1852 & 1858); Lord Justice Clerk (1858–1867) | ||
| 21 September 1891 | 21 November 1899 | MP for Buteshire (1885–1891); Solicitor General for Scotland (1885–1886 & 1886–1888); Lord Advocate (1888–1891); Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (1899–1909) | ||
| 21 November 1899 | 22 January 1905 | MP for Clackmannan and Kinross (1880–1899); Solicitor General for Scotland (1880–1881); Lord Advocate (1881–1885, 1886 & 1892–1895) | ||
| 4 February 1905 | 14 October 1913 | MP for Buteshire (1891–1905); Solicitor General for Scotland (1905–1909); Lord Advocate (1909–1913); Secretary for Scotland (1903–1905); Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (1913–1932) | ||
| 14 October 1913 | 1 April 1920 | MP for Linlithgowshire (1895–1913); Solicitor General for Scotland (1891–1892 & 1895–1896); Lord Advocate (1896–1903) | ||
| 1 April 1920 | 1 April 1935 | Solicitor General for Scotland (1905); MP for Edinburgh West (1909–1918) and Edinburgh North (1918–1920); Lord Advocate (1916–1920) | ||
| 1 April 1935 | 6 January 1947 | MP for Edinburgh West (1931–1935); Solicitor General for Scotland (1929 & 1931–1933); Lord Advocate (1933–1935); Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (1947–1953) | ||
| 6 January 1947 | 23 December 1954 | MP for Edinburgh West (1935–1941); Solicitor General for Scotland (1935); Lord Advocate (1935–1941); Senator of the College of Justice (1941–1954); Lord Justice Clerk (1941-1947); Lord President of the Court of Session (1947–1954) | ||
| 23 December 1954 | 25 April 1972 | MP for Edinburgh North (1950–1954); Lord Advocate (1951–1954); Senator of the College of Justice (1954–1972) | ||
| 25 April 1972 | 27 September 1989 | Dean of the Faculty of Advocates (1965–1970); Senator of the College of Justice (1970–1989) | ||
| 27 September 1989 | 1 October 1996 | Dean of the Faculty of Advocates (1986–1989); Senator of the College of Justice (1989–1996); Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (1996–2009); Second Senior Law Lord (2009); Deputy President of the Supreme Court (2009–2013) | ||
| 1 October 1996 | 13 November 2002 | Solicitor General for Scotland (1989–1992); Lord Advocate (1992–1995); Senator of the College of Justice (1995–2001); Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (2001–2009); Justice of the Supreme Court (2009–2011) | ||
| 13 November 2002 | 2 December 2005 | Chairman of the Medical Appeals Tribunals (1977–1986); Senator of the College of Justice (1986–2005); Lord Justice Clerk (1997–2002) | ||
| 2 December 2005 | 8 June 2012 | Chairman of the Medical Appeals Tribunals (1989–1992); President of the Pensions Appeal Tribunal in Scotland (1992–1995); Senator of the College of Justice (1995–2012) | ||
| 8 June 2012 | 31 May 2015 | Senator of the College of Justice (1994–2015); Lord Justice Clerk (2001–2012) | ||
| 18 December 2015 | present (early 2025) | Senator of the College of Justice (2000–present); Lord Justice Clerk (2012–2015) |