Scotland’s top judges to sit in Supreme Court and JCPC

The Lord President, Lord Carloway and Lord Justice Clerk, Lady Dorrian have been brought in to make up the numbers in Hilary term, owing to the retirement of Lady Black and the absence of Lord Kitchin due to illness.

Lord Carloway is listed to appear with five other judges later this month in Tax – VAT – zero-rating Balhousie Holdings Ltd v Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

Lady Dorrian is listed as one of five judges who will sit in March in the JCPC case of Hinds and others v Director of Public Prosecutions (Jamaica).

The other external judges to sit in this term are Sir Keith Lindblom, Sir Geoffrey Vos, Dame Victoria Sharp and, from Northern Ireland, Sir Declan Morgan and Sir Bernard McCloskey.

A spokeswoman for the court told Scottish Legal News that “one of Lord Reed’s priorities as president is to strengthen the relationship between the Supreme Court and courts below it”.

She added: “Inviting senior judges from the three appeal courts of the UK to sit supports this process, as it gives those judges an opportunity to gain direct experience of the court.”