Senator of the College of Justice

The Senators of the College of Justice in Scotland 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 identical, and the term Senator is almost exclusively used in referring to the judges of these courts.

Senators of the college use the judicial courtesy title of 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, the senior part of the Court of Session.

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

Henry Lauder, Lord St Germains, King's Advocate, was one of the nine advocates appointed at the institution of the College of Justice.

Originally, some 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 24. This was subsequently increased to 25 in 1991, 27 in 1993, 32 in 1999, 34 in 2004, 35 in 2016, and most recently 36 by The Maximum Number of Judges (Scotland) Order 2022. The current judges are as follows.

Inner House

The Lord President is the president of the First Division, and the Lord Justice Clerk is the president of the Second Division.

	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 2029	August 2008	February 2000	First
2	The Rt Hon. Lady Dorrian (Lord Justice Clerk)	16 June 2032	November 2012	2005	Second
3	The Rt Hon. Lady Paton	2027	April 2007	January 2000	Second
4	The Rt Hon. Lord Malcolm	1 October 2028	1 July 2014	2007	Second
5	The Rt Hon. Lord Pentland	11 March 2032	July 2020	November 2008	First
6	The Rt Hon. Lord Doherty	30 January 2033	December 2020	May 2010	First
7	The Rt Hon. Lord Matthews	4 December 2028	August 2021	2007	Second
8	The Rt Hon. Lord Tyre	17 April 2031	5 January 2022	May 2010	First
9	The Rt Hon. Lady Wise	22 January 2033	5 January 2022	6 February 2013	First
10	The Rt Hon. Lord Armstrong	26 May 2031	23 June 2023	15 February 2013	Second
11	The Rt Hon. Lord Beckett		1 July 2023	17 May 2016	Second
12	The Rt Hon. Lord Clark		23 September 2024	24 May 2016	First

Outer House

	Senator	Mandatory retirement	Appointment
13	The Hon. Lord Brailsford	16 August 2029	2006
14	The Hon. Lord Ericht	12 September 2038	31 May 2016
15	The Hon. Lady Carmichael	26 November 2044	30 June 2016
16	The Rt. Hon. Lord Mulholland	18 April 2034	15 December 2016
17	The Hon. Lord Summers	27 August 2039	17 March 2017
18	The Hon. Lord Arthurson	16 December 2039	17 March 2017
19	The Hon. Lord Fairley	20 February 2043	13 January 2020
20	The Hon. Lady Poole	11 August 2045	13 January 2020
21	The Hon. Lord Harrower		17 February 2020
22	The Hon. Lord Weir	21 Feb 2042	6 April 2020
23	The Hon. Lord Braid	6 March 2033	22 June 2020
24	The Hon. Lord Sandison	30 May 2041	1 March 2021
25	The Hon. Lady Haldane		1 March 2021
26	The Hon. Lord Richardson	26 August 2049	1 March 2021
27	The Hon. Lady Drummond	19 December 2042	16 May 2022
28	The Hon. Lord Young		16 May 2022
29	The Hon. Lord Lake		16 May 2022
30	The Hon. Lord Scott		16 May 2022
31	The Hon. Lord Stuart	24 April 2041	16 May 2022
32	The Hon. Lord Colbeck		19 May 2023
33	The Hon. Lord Cubie		17 June 2024
34	The Hon. Lady Hood		17 June 2024
35	The Hon. Lord Renucci		17 June 2024
36	The Hon. Lady Ross		17 June 2024
37	The Hon. Lord Duthie	27 June 2050	9 January 2023

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 2022, 7 retired judges are available to sit as judges:

	Senator	Becomes ineligible to act as a judge	Appointment	Retirement
1	The Rt Hon. Lord Clarke	2022	2000	2016
2	The Rt Hon. Lord Kingarth	21 June 2024	1997	2010
3	The Rt Hon. Lady Clark	26 February 2024	2006	2019
4	The Rt Hon. Lord Brodie	14 July 2025	2002	2020
5	The Rt Hon. Lord Drummond Young	2025	2001	2020
6	The Hon. Lady Rae	20 June 2025	14 January 2014	2020
7	The Hon. Lord Uist	1 February 2026	April 2006	2021

See also

• Historic list of senators of the College of Justice
• Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
• List of judges of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales
• List of High Court judges of England and Wales

External links

• Biographies of Senators