As Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General, Lord Hamilton, 65, is the head of the Scottish judiciary. In addition to presiding over the most significant cases in the country’s appeal court, he has responsibility for appointments and oversees court procedures, and he consults with the Government on important legal issues. Critics say that the role is too much for one individual — indeed, Lord Hamilton went on sick leave several months after taking the post in 2005, prompting emergency legislation to delegate responsibility in his absence; he returned two months later. Born in Glasgow, Arthur Hamilton studied at Glasgow, Oxford and Edinburgh before becoming a barrister in 1968. He took silk in 1982 and became a judge in 1995. As Lord President he has vowed to reform Scotland’s archaic court system and fought to maintain judicial independence. Last year he clashed publicly with the Lord Advocate, Eilish Angiolini, claiming that her statements to Parliament about a 30-year-old murder case undermined the judges who had heard it.

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