Court of Session Act 1988

2 Composition of Court

The Court shall be composed of an Inner House and an Outer House constituted in accordance with the following provisions of this section.

(2) Subject to subsection (3) below, the Inner House shall be composed of two Divisions, namely, the First Division comprising the Lord President and three senior judges of the Court, and the Second Division comprising the Lord Justice Clerk and three other senior judges of the Court.

(3) The Lord President may from time to time direct any three judges of the Court to sit as an extra Division of the Inner House for the purpose of hearing and disposing of causes pending before the Inner House, and the senior judge present shall preside and shall sign any judgment or interlocutor pronounced by the extra Division; and any reference in this Act or in any other enactment to a Division of the Inner House shall be construed as including a reference to such an extra Division.

(4) The quorum for a Division of the Inner House shall be three judges.

(5) The Outer House shall be composed of the judges of the Court (other than the judges of the Inner House while they are sitting in the Inner House) sitting singly, and any reference in this Act or in any other enactment to a Lord Ordinary shall be construed as a reference to a judge sitting singly in the Outer House.

(6) Subject to subsection (7) below, a vacancy arising in a Division of the Inner House shall be filled by the appointment of the senior Lord Ordinary.

(7) Subsection (6) above shall not apply in the case of such a vacancy arising by reason of the death or resignation of the Lord President or the Lord Justice Clerk.