Lord of Council and Session

Court of Session
Logo of the Court of Session
Established	1532
Country	Scotland
Location	Parliament House, Edinburgh
Composition method	Judges are appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the First Minister, who receives recommendations from the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland
Authorized by	Act of James V of Scots, 1532
Decisions are appealed to	Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Judge term length	ad vitam aut culpam
Number of positions	34
Website	www.scotcourts.gov.uk
Lord President
Currently	Lord Gill
Since	8 June 2012
Lord Justice Clerk
Currently	Lord Carloway
Since	15 August 2012

The Court of Session (Scottish Gaelic: Cùirt an t-Seisein; Scots: Coort o Session) is the supreme civil court of Scotland, and constitutes part of the College of Justice. It sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh and is both a trial court and a court of appeal. The Court of Session has jurisdiction with the Sheriff Court—the other Scottish civil court, which sits locally—and the pursuer is given first choice of what court to use. However, the majority of complex, important, or high value cases are brought in the Court of Session.Legal aid, administered by the Scottish Legal Aid Board, is available to persons with little disposable income for cases in the Court of Session.

The court is a unitary collegiate court, with all judges other than the Lord President and the Lord Justice Clerk holding the same rank and title—Senator of the College of Justice and also Lord or Lady of Council and Session. There are thirty-four judges, in addition to a number of temporary judges; these temporary judges are typically sheriffs, or advocates in private practice. The judges sit also in the High Court of Justiciary, where the Lord President is called the Lord Justice General.