Courts of Scotland

The courts of Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Cùirtean na h-Alba) are responsible for administration of justice in Scotland, under statutory, common law and equitable provisions within Scots law. The courts are presided over by the judiciary of Scotland, who are the various judicial office holders responsible for issuing judgments, ensuring fair trials, and deciding on sentencing. The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland, subject to appeals to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, and the High Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal court, which is only subject to the authority of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on devolution issues and human rights compatibility issues.

The judiciary of Scotland, except the Lord Lyon King of Arms, are united under the leadership and authority of the Lord President and Lord Justice General, who is the president of the Court of Session and High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session has the authority, under the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, to regulate civil procedure through passing subordinate legislation knows as Acts of Sederunt, and the High Court of Justiciary has the authority to regulate criminal procedure through passing Acts of Adjournal. Both Acts of Sederunt and Acts of Adjournal have the capacity to amend primary legislation where it deals with civil or criminal procedure respectively.

The majority of criminal and civil justice in Scotland is handled by the local sheriff courts, which are arranged into six sheriffdoms led by a sheriff principal. The sheriff courts have exclusive jurisdiction over all civil cases with a monetary value up to £100,000, and are able to try criminal cases both on complaint for summary offences, and with a jury for indictable offences. Treason, murder, and rape are in the exclusive jurisdiction of the High Court of Justiciary, and whilst the High Court and sheriff courts have concurrent jurisdiction over armed robbery, drug trafficking, and sexual offences involving children virtually all these cases are heard by the High Court.

Administration for the courts is provided by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, a non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government. The Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service is operationally independent of the Scottish Ministers, and is governed by a corporate board chaired by the Lord President, and with a majority of judicial members.

There are various specialist courts and tribunals with specialist jurisdictions, which are subject to the ultimate jurisdiction of either the Court of Session or High Court of Justiciary, including . Children under the age of 16 who face allegations of criminal conduct are dealt with through the Children's Hearings, which are quasi-judicial in nature. Disputes involving agricultural tenancies and crofting are dealt with by the Scottish Land Court, and disputes about private rights in titles for land ownership and land valuation are dealt with by the Lands Tribunal for Scotland. Heraldry is regulated in Scotland both by the civil and criminal law, with prosecutions taken before the Court of the Lord Lyon.

Defunct and historical courts include the Admiralty Court, Court of Exchequer, district courts, and the High Court of Constabulary.

The United Kingdom does not have a single judicial system – England and Wales have one system, Scotland another, and Northern Ireland a third. The military courts of the United Kingdom have jurisdiction over all members of the armed forces of the United Kingdom and civilians subject to service discipline in relation to offences against military law. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom operates across all three separate jurisdictions, hearing some civil – but not criminal – appeals in Scottish cases, and determining certain devolution and human rights issues.

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom was created on 1 October 2009 by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. The Supreme Court hears civil appeals from the Court of Session, and it hears appeals from all the civil and criminal courts of England and Wales and of Northern Ireland. The Supreme Court has no authority to hear appeals on criminal matters from the High Court of Justiciary. Until the creation of the Supreme Court, ultimate appeal lay to the House of Lords, a chamber of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (though in modern practice only the Law Lords sitting in the Appellate Committee, rather than the whole House, heard appeals). The Supreme Court took over the judicial functions of the House of Lords, and also assumed the jurisdiction over devolution and human rights issues vested in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.