The Council of Europe’s European judicial systems CEPEJ Evaluation Report looks at key metrics from 2022 covering all 48 member states’ legal systems.

It found that in Scotland there is a low number of judges per 100,000 inhabitants (3.65) compared to the CoE median (17.6). However, the ratio of non-judge staff per judge (9.82) is among the highest in Europe.

The report notes that judges in Scotland earn well above the CoE member state median figure at the “beginning of their career”. The median salary in Scotland is €166,195, compared to €46,812 for other member states. This is in part attributable to the fact judges in the UK and other common law systems are appointed after careers as lawyers, as opposed to in Europe, where graduates can begin their careers as judges – as the report notes.

The median judicial salary at the end of careers is, however, still much higher in Scotland, at €254,813, as compared with the CoE median figure of €100,367.

In 2012, 22 per cent of judges in Scotland were female – this rose to 28 per cent in 2022. The majority of prosecutors in 2012 were female, at 63 per cent. This rose to 68 per cent in 2022.

Scotland’s legal aid spend is more than ten times the CoE median. The report states: “A very high number of cases are granted with legal aid (3 cases per 100 inhabitants compared to the CoE median of 0,9). The average amount of legal aid granted per case (€680) is almost 50 per cent higher than the European median value.”

Elsewhere the report notes that Scotland provided very little case flow data. “Indeed, the case management system is not structured in a way that allows these figures to be retrieved,” the report states.

First instance courts are “efficient in criminal matters with a clearance rate above the 100 per cent threshold and a disposition time below the CoE median” but “first instance courts encounter some difficulties in civil matters, the clearance rate value being only at 86 per cent”.