Session Cases are the authoritative law reports of cases heard in the

Scottish courts The courts of Scotland () are responsible for administration of justice in Scotland, under statutory, common law and equitable provisions within Scots law. The courts are presided over by the judiciary of Scotland, who are the various judicia ...

. They are now published by the Scottish Council of Law Reporting (SCLR), a charity established by the legal profession, with the prime purpose of publishing what are the nearest thing to 'official' law reports that exist in Scotland, as evidenced by Practice Notes from both the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the highest national court of Scotland in relation to Civil law (common law), civil cases. The court was established in 1532 to take on the judicial functions of the royal council. Its jurisdiction overlapped with othe ...

and the

High Court of Justiciary The High Court of Justiciary () is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. The High Court is both a trial court and a court of appeal. As a trial court, the High Court sits on circuit at Parliament House or in the adjacent former Sheriff C ...

directing that Session Cases law reports must be cited in preference to any other source if the case being cited is reported in Session Cases. The series commenced in 1821. Initially the law reports were of cases heard in the Court of Session only and were named for the editors who managed the collection of law reports thus Shaw (1821–37), Dunlop (1838–61), Macpherson (1862–72), Rettie (1873–97) and Fraser (1898–1905). There is no Session Cases volume numbered for 1906 and the series recommenced, as Session Cases, with different annual coverage with the 1907 volume. The series has covered cases heard in the High Court of Justiciary, Scotland's supreme criminal court since the beginning of the Rettie series in 1873. The series now reports cases heard in all the superior courts hearing Scottish cases: The United Kingdom Supreme Court (formerly the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords); the Privy Council; the High Court of Justiciary; the Court of Session (both Inner and Outer Houses); and, since 2016, the Sheriff Appeal Court (both criminal and civil appeals). The SCLR has digitised all the cases reported in Session Cases from 1821 and the digital form of these reports is available from the commercial law reporting services offered by vLex (Justis), Lexis and Westlaw. Current law reports published in Session Cases are available in hard copy from the SCLR itself and in digital form on these three commercial services. Uniquely, in Scotland, all the law reports published in Session Cases are prepared by practising advocates or solicitor advocates who have rights of audience in the Scottish courts whose cases they report.

References

Scots law Scottish case law 1821 establishments in Scotland 1821 in case law 1821 in British law {{Scotland-law-stub