High Court of Justiciary

High Court of Justiciary
Emblem of the High Court of Justiciary, based upon a stylised artistic variant of one of the Royal Coats of Arms in Scotland
Established	1672
Country	Scotland
Location	Parliament House, Edinburgh
Composition method	Appointed by the Scottish Government known as the Scottish Ministers as a corporation sole, as provided for under the provisions of the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008 (2008 a.s.p. c. 6), following the advice and recommendation of the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland
Authorized by	Act of Parliament of Scotland
Decisions are appealed to	1. European Court of Justice (ECJ) of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), with the permission of the High Court of Justiciary and also of the United Kingdom Supreme Court (UKSC), or 2. European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), or both
Judge term length	ad vitam aut culpam
Number of positions	34
Website	www.scotcourts.gov.uk
Lord Justice General
Currently	Colin Sutherland, Lord Carloway
Since	18 December 2015
Lord Justice Clerk
Currently	Vacant
Since	18 December 2015

The High Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal court in Scotland.

The High Court is both a court of first instance and a court of appeal. As a court of first instance, the High Court sits mainly in Parliament House, or in the former Sheriff Court building, in Edinburgh, or in its own court buildings in Glasgow and Aberdeen. However it sometimes sits in various smaller towns in Scotland, when it borrows the local Sheriff Court building. As a court of appeal, it sits only in Edinburgh.

The High Court of Justiciary has also sat once outside Scotland, at Zeist in the Netherlands during the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial, as the Scottish Court in the Netherlands.

The individuals who sit in the High Court often hold a seat simultaneously in Scotland's civil court system.

The judges of the High Court are the same ones who sit in the Court of Session, Scotland's supreme civil court. The Court of Session's Lord President is also the High Court's Lord Justice General. The Lord Justice Clerk holds his or her office in both courts. The remaining judges are referred to as Lords Commissioners of Justiciary in the context of the High Court, and Lords of Council and Session or Senators of the College of Justice in the context of the Court of Session.

When sitting as a court of first instance, that is, when hearing a case for the first time rather than on appeal, a single Lord Commissioner of Justiciary usually presides (although two or more judges may sit in important or difficult cases) with a jury of fifteen individuals. Under the Scottish legal system, the jury need not return a unanimous verdict; a majority verdict may also be used. The Scottish legal system also permits a verdict of 'not proven' as well as verdicts of 'guilty' or 'not guilty'.