Live streaming from Scotland's Court of Session commences

The Court of Session in Scotland, the country's highest civil court, has commenced a new live streaming service of cases. At this stage, appeals to civil cases heard in the Inner House are being streamed only.

Civil cases could be heard from 1532 in the Court of Session, after it was established by James V, with cases presided over by the Lord Chancellor of Scotland. In 1810 the court was divided into two, with an Outer House (a court of first instance) and Inner House (a court both of first instance and appeal). In 1815 a Jury Court was also created to allow trial by jury for civil matters for the first time, though this was absorbed into the Court of Session in 1830.

The Court of Session oversees many civil actions, including issues such as debt recovery, divorce actions from 1830, sequestrations (bankruptcies), the appointment of guardians to oversee the estates of the sick or insane, and cases of defamation. It also has the most prominent series of registers of deeds, and could hear services of heirs cases.

If your ancestors were tried in the Court of Session, had cases prosecuted on their behalf, or acted as witnesses, the live stream can give you a flavour of the sort of experience they may have gone through. For more on the announcement of the streaming service, visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66020408, whilst the stream itself is available at https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/the-courts/supreme-courts/about-the-court-of-session/court-of-session-livestream-hearings.    

You can find more about the role of the Court of Session, as well as other courts in Scotland, and their relevance for genealogical research, in my book Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records, details below!

                                            Entrance to the Law Courts, Parliament Square, (c) Kim Traynor, Creative Commons

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.