24 November 2005
The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of The Right Honourable Lord Hamilton as Lord President of the Court of Session in Scotland in succession to The Right Honourable The Lord Cullen of Whitekirk.
Notes for Editors
Arthur Campbell Hamilton (63) was born in Glasgow and attended Glasgow High School. He studied at Glasgow, Oxford (BA) and Edinburgh (LLB) Universities, completing his studies in 1967. He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1968 and became QC in 1982. He was an Advocate Depute (1982-85), Chairman of the Medical Appeals Tribunals (1988-92) and President of the Pensions Appeal Tribunal (Scotland) (1992-95). Over several months in 1992 and 1993, during the indisposition of the Sheriff Principal of Tayside, Central and Fife, he acted as a temporary Sheriff Principal in that sheriffdom. From 1988 to 1995 he was a Judge of Appeal of the Courts of Appeal of Jersey and Guernsey.
In 1995 he was appointed as a Senator of the College of Justice. Between 1997 and 2000 he was a full-time commercial judge dedicated to commercial business and responsible for oversight of that aspect of Court of Session business. In January 2002 he was appointed as a judge of the Inner House where he sat principally on appellate business.
The Lord President is the head of the Court of Session, and as Lord Justice General, head of the High Court of Justiciary. He routinely presides in these courts dealing mainly with appeals. In addition to his judicial duties, the Lord President has general supervision over all the business of the Court of Session and the High Court, and is responsible for the policy governing these courts and the judges, and for the rules of court procedure.
He makes appointments to certain tribunals sitting in Scotland, and, as Lord Justice General, recommends persons on whom the rank of Queen’s Counsel might be conferred. As the most senior judge in Scotland, the Lord President is routinely consulted on a wide range of matters concerning the law and the legal system, and he deals with communications and consultations with the heads of foreign and Commonwealth judiciaries.
The Rt Hon the Lord Cullen of Whitekirk, the current Lord President, will retire at the end of this week. He served as Lord Justice Clerk for four years, before taking up the position of Lord President in 2001.
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