History
The Lords of Council and Session had previously been part of the King's Council, but after receiving support in the form of a papal bull of 1531, King James V established a separate institution—the College of Justice or Court of Session—in 1532, with a structure based on that of the Parlement of Paris. The Lord Chancellor of Scotland was to preside over the court, which was to be composed of fifteen lords appointed from the King’s Council. Seven of the lords had to be churchmen, while another seven had to be laymen.
An Act of Parliament in 1640 restricted membership of the Court to laymen only, by withdrawing the right of churchmen to sit in judgement. The number of laymen was increased to maintain the number of Lords in the Court.
The Court of Session is explicitly preserved "in all time coming" in Article XIX of the Treaty of Union between England and Scotland, subsequently passed into legislation by the Acts of Union in 1706 and 1707 respectively.
Several significant changes were made to the Court during the nineteenth century. It was separated into two divisions, the Outer House and Inner House, by the Court of Session Act 1810. A further separation was made in 1815 with the creation of a lesser Jury Court to allow certain civil cases to be tried by jury. In 1830 the Jury Court was absorbed into the Court of Session along with the Admiralty and Commissary Courts.
Read more about this topic: Court Of Session
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