Session Cases

CELEBRATING TWO HUNDRED YEARS OF SESSION CASES 1821 – 2021

The Scottish Council of Law Reporting’s major publication is its law report series, Session Cases^®

The Session Cases law report series contains all the key appellate decisions, civil and criminal, from the Court of Session and High Court of Justiciary in Scotland together with selected cases decided at first instance.

Also included in Session Cases are all decisions, as issued, on Scottish appeals to the House of Lords and to the Privy Council. All judgments are reported in full.

The judges who gave opinions (judgments) in each case have the opportunity to review the report before it is published – this gives Session Cases its unsurpassed authority in Scottish courts.

A distinguishing feature of Session Cases is that its reports are written and edited by lawyers with rights of audience in the Courts whose cases are reported in the series.

Session Cases^® take precedence over all other law report series in Scotland.

All cases are reported under headnotes and rubrics, providing the user with an easily absorbed guide to the subjects, the facts and the grounds for the decision.

A useful feature is the summary of the arguments presented to the court.

A note about the Naming of Session Cases^®

Between 1821 and 1906 the volumes of Session Cases^® were named and numbered according to the surname of each successive editor  

Shaw, volumes 1S to 16S, reporting cases from 1821 to 1838

Dunlop, volumes 1D to 24D, reporting cases 1838 from to 1862

Macpherson, volumes 1M to 11M, reporting cases from 1862 to 1873

Rettie, volumes 1R to 24R, reporting cases from 1874 to 1897

Fraser, volumes 1F to 8F, reporting cases from 1898 to 1906

Thereafter, they are simply referred to as the Session Cases^® starting with the volume for 1907 (there is no volume numbered 1906).