Lord President of the Court of Session

Lord President of the Court of Session

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Lord President of the Court of Session

The Lord President of the Court of Session is head of the judiciary in Scotland, and presiding judge (and Senator) of the College of Justice and Court of Session, as well as being Lord Justice General of Scotland and head of the High Court of Justiciary, the offices having been combined in 1836.

The office of Lord Justice General is derived from the justiciars who were appointed from the twelfth century (or even earlier). From around 1567 it was held heritably by the Earl of Argyll until the heritability was resigned to the Crown in 1607. Scotstarvet lists it as a Great Officer of State in his famous treatise of 1754.

The current Lord President, Lord Hamilton, was sworn in on 2 December 2005.

Their deputy is the Lord Justice Clerk.

Office Holders

Justiciars
Lord Justice-General
Lord President

See also
References

Office Holders

Justiciars

(called Lord Chief Justices by Scot of Scotstarvet).

Argadus, Captain of Argyll, in the reign of Ethodius
Comes Dunetus; in the reign of King William the Lion (who d. 1214).
Donnchad II, Earl of Fife
William Comyn
Richard Comyn
David, Earl of Huntingdon (d. 1219)
Walter Clifford, Justiciary of the Lothians
1216: Allan, Justiciary to King Alexander II
1224: William Cumin, Earl of Buchan (reign of Alexander III)
Walter (d. 1241), son of Allan High Steward of Scotland
1239: William, Earl of Ross, "Lord Chief Justice of Scotland"
1243: David de Lindsay, Justiciary of the Lothians
Alexander (d.1283), High Steward of Scotland to King Alexander II
Hugo de Barclay, Justiciary of the Lothians
1253: Alexander Cumin, Earl of Buchan
bef 1319: Sir Robert de Lawedre of The Bass (d. Sept 1337), Justiciary of the Lothians
1328: Sir Robert Lauder of Quarrelwood (d. between 1367-70), Justiciary North of the Forth
1366: Robert de Erskine, Justiciary South of the Forth for King David II
bef 1372: Alan de Lawedre of The Bass, Whitslaid, & Haltoun, Justiciary South of the Forth, (he received a pension for holding this post in 1374).
1372: Sir William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas (d. May 1384), Justiciary South of the Forth.
1425: Sir Robert de Lawedre of Edrington & The Bass (d.1451), "Justiciario Scotia"
1446: Patrick de Ogilvy, Justiciary South of the Forth
1457: John, Lord Lindsay of the Byres, Justiciary South of the Forth
William Sinclair, 3rd Earl of Orkney & Caithness (d.1480), Justiciary North of the Forth for King James II
1477: John Haldane of Gleneagles, Justiciary North of the Forth
Patrick Hepburn, 1st Lord Hailes (d. after 1482), and Robert, 2nd Lord Lyle, Justiciaries South of the Forth
Andrew, Earl of Crawfurd, and George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly, Justiciaries North of the Forth
1488: Robert, 2nd Lord Lyle d.c1497), "Lord Chief Justice"
1489: John Lyon, 3rd Lord Glamis (d. 1 April 1497), and John Drummond, 1st Lord Drummond: "Justice-General"
1492: Robert, 2nd Lord Lyle, and John Lyon, 3rd Lord Glamis
1494: John Drummond, 1st Lord Drummond (d. c1519)
1504: Andrew Gray, 2nd Lord Gray, and John Kennedy, 2nd Lord Kennedy
1514: Colin Campbell, 3rd Earl of Argyll
1526: Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie
1537: Archibald Campbell, 4th Earl of Argyll
1567: Sir Colin Campbell, 6th Earl of Argyll, (d.1584) (heritably)
1578: Sir Colin Campbell, 6th Earl of Argyll, (re-appointment?)
1589: Archibald Campbell, 7th Earl of Argyll, (who exchanged the heritable office of Lord Chief Justice in 1607, for the heritable Lieutenancy of Argyll and Lorn, and most of The Isles).
1628: William Graham, 7th Earl of Menteith, 1st Earl of Airth
1638: Sir William Elphinstone
1641: Sir Thomas Hope, younger of Kerse
1646: William Cunningham, 8th Earl of Glencairn
1649: John Kennedy, 6th Earl of Cassilis