The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is a department of the Scottish Government which deals with criminal prosecutions.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is charged with the investigation and prosecution of criminal offenses, the assessment of treasure troves (assets which are discovered and believed to belong to someone who is now deceased), investigations of deaths with sudden or suspicious circumstances, assessment of land that has been vacated and being possessed by the government and also internal investigation of police behavior.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is headed by the Scottish Lord General, who is assisted by the Solicitor General of Scotland. The employees of the department are considered to be civil servants and carry out the administrative side of its business, although solicitors and advocates are also employed to represent the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in court.

Due to poor record keeping and loses of administrative documents over time, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is a difficult aspect of the Scottish law system to define and ascertain in origin. The task of discovering its origins is made all the more difficult as it seems that the Lord's Advocate position and the procurator fiscal position were not always one. The earliest reference to a Lord's advocate is dated 1462, and a specified Lord's Advocate office is on record in 1478. In 1492 it is adamantly clear that the position had reached a point as it stands now, with only one advocate being present for the monarch. Similarly, the position of Procurator Fiscal is recorded for the first time in 22 August 1584, with several being named for the Edinburgh area.

The Justiciar is an outdated legal and political position from Scotland.

In modern day terms, the Justiciar is equivalent to a contemporary Prime Minister. Their prevalent purpose was to act as the monarch’s chief minister. In Scotland there were typically two people in these positions, Justiciar of Scotia (the kingdom above the River Forth) and Justiciar of Lothian (area below the River Ford), although for some time in the 13th century there was also a Justiciar of Galloway. In each area, the Justiciar was the highest legal officer and charged with the administrative duties that this had associated with it.

The position of Justiciar is thought to have been created in the 12th century by Alexander I, or David I. The position is believed to have stemmed from the pre-12th century practice of Scottish justices travelling around the country in a circuit and hearing court cases. By 1524, the position of Justiciar had evolved into having a permanent base in Edinburgh. Thus the College of Justice was created from the Justiciar. The title of Lord Justice-General is today’s direct equivalent of the Justiciar. Interestingly, the Duke of Argyll still posses the title of High Justiciar of Argyll, although this does not bear any responsibility or job with it.

Arthur Hamilton is currently Scotland’s highest judge.

Arthur Hamilton holds the positions of Lord Justice General and Lord President of the Court of Session, making him the head of Scotland’s judicial system. With the exception of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Arthur Hamilton has authority over any Scots Law established court. He attained the position after the retirement of William Douglas from the role, in the November 2005.

Arthur Hamilton, who came to be known as Lord Hamilton, was born in Glasgow on the 10th of June 1942. He attended the Glasgow High School, along with the University of Glasgow, both Oxford and Edinburgh University, and Worcester College. In 1967 he attained a Bachelor of Laws. In 1968 he achieved admittance into the Faculty of Advocates. Previous to being appointed Senator of the College of Justice in 1995, Arthur Hamilton held the position of Judge of the Courts of Appeal of Jersey and Guernsey, he was also the President of the Pensions Appeal Tribunal.

Arthur Hamilton served as a commercial judge with primary concerns in commercial law, for his first years in the College of Justice. In 2002 he was appointed to be a Judge of the Inner House of the Court of Session. He continued in this position until it was announced in the November of 2005 that he would be appointed the highest legal position in the land. Arthur Hamilton took office on the 2nd of December, 2005.

The High Court of Justiciary is the highest criminal court in Scotland.

The High Court of Justiciary is analogous to the Court of Sessions, for the criminal section of the Scottish law system. The High Court of Justiciary is part of the College of Justice, as in the Court of Sessions. In fact, the two are so closely related that the High Court of Justiciary and the Court of Sessions share many of there members, it is common for the judges on both to be the same. The Court of Session's Lord President is the Lord Justice General of the High Court of Justiciary, the highest position on both.

The High Court of Justiciary is both the court of first instance and appeal for Scotland's criminal system. Typically a first instance case will be seen by one judge and fifteen jury members, although more difficult cases will warrant the attention of two judges. The High Court of Justiciary often has sole jurisdiction over serious crimes like murder, bypassing the lower court system.

The High Court of Justiciary is presided over by three judges if an appeal to a conviction is seen, in the case of an appeal on a sentence only two judges will be present. In the Scottish law system there are no courts higher than the High Court of Justiciary , so no further appeals are possible.

The College of Justice is the name given to the Supreme Courts of Scotland.

The founding of the College of Justice came under a papal bull from Pope Clement VII, it was later created by King James V in 1532. Pope Clement VII provided a clause in the papal that required 10,000 gold ducats for the funding of the College of Justice from Scotland's church institutions. Having been ordered and funded by the church, it was also mandated that the College of Justice be made up half of "eclastical dignity", meaning people of the church.

Scottish parliament passed an act on the 17th of May 1532, authorizing the creation of the College of Justice. Ten days later, on the 27th of May, the College of Justice met for the first time. Originally the College of Justice had a total of 14 Lord Chancellors and variable numbers of supernumery judges.

The proceedings of the College of Justice also led to the creating of various legal precedents in Scotland. Previous to the inception of the College of Justice, the concepts of law came from books on the Acts of Parliament of Scotland, Common Law, Civil and Canon Law, while this provided a basis it still gave no precedent for judgment in Scotland as a unified body. Though, the judgments of the judges of the College of Justice were recorded in the "Books of Practicks", leaving behind a verifiable record of previous judgments and standards.