James Arthur David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead, KT, PC, FRSE (born 27 June 1938) is a retired Scottish judge who served as the Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General, Scotland's most senior judge, and later as first Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 2009 until his retirement in 2013.

He has published 5 volumes of his diaries, archived his papers at the National Library of Scotland, and been involved in numerous controversies.

[2] Lord Hope of Craighead resides in Moray Place in Edinburgh and in 2014 appeared in a television documentary programme about his home and the street in which it stands.

[7] He served as Standing Junior Counsel in Scotland to the Board of the Inland Revenue from 1974 to 1978, and as an Advocate Depute from 1978 to 1982, prosecuting cases on behalf of the Crown.

[14] From October 2015 to December 2023 and continuing, Lord Hope of Craighead served as remunerated Chief Justice of Abu Dhabi Global Market Courts.

[19] On 20 March 2024, Lord Hope, as an independent peer successfully moved in the House of Lords an amendment of his own to the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill whereby implementation of the legislation would be delayed pending the decision of a proposed panel of experts tasked with deciding whether Rwanda satisfied certain safeguarding criteria.

[23] Speaking on the BBC radio programme “Today” on 18 April 2024, Lord Hope of Craighead defended his intervention on the basis that he was seeking to correct a defect in the legislation.

[24] In November 2014, Lord Hope of Craighead donated to the National Library of Scotland 16 boxes containing 90 files spanning the period 1953 - 2014.

and Afterwards 2009-2015: Lord Hope's Diaries Volume V[31] The works chronicled his life, experiences and rise to the top, from Senior Counsel to his retirement from the Supreme Court.

This resulted in human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell demanding an apology from Malcolm Rifkind, the former Scottish Secretary, for his actions in forcing Lord Dervaird from judicial office because of rumours of his being homosexual.

Margaret Thatcher, the then prime minister, was informed that Rifkind and Lord Hope considered that Dervaird should be asked to resign.

[37] He was reported by Lucy Adams of the Glasgow Herald as saying: "There is [in England and Wales] none of the feeling of antipathy  towards cases being sent to London that lies just below the surface here in Scotland.

[39] The version of the speech Lord Hope of Craighead approved for posting on the Supreme Court website does not include the contested wording.

Whilst accepting that the truth of Lord Hope of Craighead's account could be doubted, Graham observed that the mere possibility of it being correct "strikes at the heart of judicial neutrality and procedural fairness".

[48] Lord Hope of Craighead was lauded by Iain Duncan Smith in his published attack on the Chinese government.

Importantly, with the United Nations having shown itself incapable of making such decisions, the determination of whether genocide has taken place would be made by the High Court of England and Wales.

"[49] In 2023 Lord Hope of Craighead introduced an amendment to the "highly controversial" Public Order Bill at the report stage.

"[51] In January 2023 Lord Hope of Craighead was widely reported for spontaneously intervening publicly against proposals by the Scottish government to liberalise conditions for changes in the legal status of transgender people.

[52][53] Asked about Lord Hope of Craighead's suggestion that legal challenge to a Westminster government veto would be a waste of money, Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf stated that it was not a waste of money because he was "not prepared to accept a Westminster veto over legislation that was passed by a majority".

[54] In 2024 the Society of Legal Scholars published the results of an academic investigation by way of semi-structured interviews given by 13 very senior judicial figures from across the United Kingdom, some attributed and some anonymously.

[57] Lord Hope of Craighead in April 2024 gave an interview to the Times criticising the Scottish Government’s new law in the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act.

[citation needed] On St Andrew's Day, 30 November 2009, Lord Hope of Craighead was appointed to the Order of the Thistle by Queen Elizabeth II.