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The Senators of the College of Justice are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of Senator: Lords of Session (judges of the Court of Session); Lords Commissioner of Justiciary (judges of the High Court of Justiciary); and the Chairman of the Scottish Land Court. Whilst the High Court and Court of Session historically maintained separate judiciary, these are now one and the same, and the term, Senator, is almost exclusively used in referring to the judges of these courts.
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Senators of the College use the title Lord or Lady along with a surname or a territorial name. Note, however, that some Senators have a peerage title, which would be used instead of the senatorial title. All Senators of the College have the honorific, The Honourable, before their titles, while those who are also Privy Counsellors or peers have the honorific, The Right Honourable. Senators are made Privy Counsellors upon promotion to the Inner House.
Under section 11 of the Treason Act 1708, it is treason to kill a Senator of the College of Justice "sitting in Judgment in the Exercise of their Office within Scotland".
History
In the past other officers of state were included as Senators, including the Lord Advocate, Lord Clerk Register, Master of Requests and the Secretary of State.
List of Senators
The Court of Session Act 1988 limits the number of Senators of the College of Justice (aside from the Chairman of the Scottish Land Court, who ranks as a Senator) to 34.
Inner House
The Lord President is the president of the First Division, and the Lord Justice Clerk is the president of the Second Division. The puisne judges are limited to five assigned to each of those two divisions.
Retired judges
There are also some retired judges who still sit occasionally in the Court of Session or the Court of Criminal Appeal to hear cases if needed when there is a shortage of available judges. They are also called Senators of the College of Justice. There are (as of 25 February 2017) 13 retired judges available to sit as judges: