Senator of the College of Justice

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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 Commissioners 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, when enacted, limited 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.^[1] This was subsequently increased to 35 by The Maximum Number of Judges (Scotland) Order 2016, enacted by the Scottish Ministers.^[2]

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. As of August 2018, 9 retired judges are available to sit as judges:

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

References

External links

• Biographies of Senators