The medieval Justiciar (royal judge) took its name from the justices who originally travelled around Scotland hearing cases on circuit or 'ayre'.

In 1532 the College of Justice was founded, separating civil and criminal jurisdiction between two distinct courts.

[4] Article XIX of the Treaty of Union that united Scotland and England into Great Britain preserved the High Court of Justiciary, though now the High Court was subject to the Parliament of Great Britain which could enact "...regulations for the better administration of Justice".

However, Scullion identified that it was only in the latter half of the 20th century that the judgments of the High Court were directly influenced by English decisions and precedent.

[8] The High Court of Justiciary remained the final authority on all matters of criminal law after the Act of Union, though the Parliament of Great Britain appears to have had appellate jurisdiction through the judicial functions of the House of Lords this appeared to have little effect in practice.

[11] The membership of the court remained unchanged until 1887 when all of the Senators of the College of Justice were made Lords Commissioners of Justiciary, by the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1887.

[12] Writing in 1896, Charles Pearson attested that no appeal was competent from the High Court to the House of Lords.

[4] The supremacy of the High Court was affirmed by Section 124 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, which stated: ...every interlocutor and sentence pronounced by the High Court under this Part of this Act shall be final and conclusive and not subject to review by any court whatsoever...Scottish devolution and the establishment of the Scottish Parliament by the Scotland Act 1998 introduced the right to refer points of law to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

The Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial required a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom and Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands which created extraterritoriality for the Scottish Court, with Camp Zeist in Utrecht (a disused United States Air Force base) made a subject of Scots law.

[18] Following the conviction, which was upheld on appeal of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the Scottish Court in the Netherlands ceased to sit.

[19] The jurisdiction of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in human rights and devolution issues was transferred to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.

Though where two or more Lords Commissioners are presiding they may determine the human rights issue without referral to the Supreme Court.

The High Court has exclusive jurisdiction over serious crimes such as treason, murder, and rape and, in practice, deals with armed robbery, drug trafficking, and sexual offences involving children (over which it shares jurisdiction with the sheriff court).

[25] Trials in the High Court are usually jury trials, with a single Lord Commissioner of Justiciary presiding (although two or more judges may sit in important or difficult cases) with a jury of fifteen individuals; in Scotland this is known as solemn proceedings.

[4]: 739  When families of the victims of the 2014 Glasgow bin lorry crash applied for such a bill, their request was denied by the High Court in 2016 on the basis that there was insufficient evidence.

[33] However, a person could be bailed when accused of these of crimes on application of the Lord Advocate or by a decision of the High Court itself.

(Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007 did reintroduce restrictions on the granting of bail by requiring exceptional circumstances to be shown when a person is accused of violent, sexual, or drugs offences, and they have a prior conviction for a similar offence.

The court consists of at least three judges when hearing appeals against conviction and two when hearing appeals against sentence, although more judges may sit when the court is dealing with exceptionally difficult cases or those where important matters of law may be considered.

[39] In exceptional circumstances, a person may petition the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, who have the authority to refer an appeal back to the High Court of Justiciary, if the Commission determine that a miscarriage of justice has or might have occurred.

[2][20][41] For a referral to proceed permission must be granted by two or more Lords Commissioners of Justiciary, or by the Supreme Court itself.

[16] The most frequent devolution issues raised related to Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which mandates the right to a fair trial, and the role of the Lord Advocate who is both the chief public prosecutor and a member of the Scottish Government.

Under the Scotland Act 1998 the Lord Advocate could do nothing that was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, and should his actions be deemed incomparable then they were null and void.

[23] This led to the case of Cadder v HM Advocate where the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled that the police in Scotland could not question a suspect without granting that person access to a solicitor.

[42] This was one case, along with Fraser v HM Advocate, that led the Scottish Government to raise concerns with HM Government that it appeared that "virtually any objection, challenge, or point of law can be characterised as a devolution issue", thus undermining the High Court's final jurisdiction in criminal matters.

[43] The Scotland Act 2012 modified provisions around devolution issues by no longer rendering null and void those actions of the Lord Advocate that were incompatible with the European Convention, but still allowing a right to appeal against those actions on grounds of incompatibility.

[24][44][45] The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom was established by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, and is the highest court in the United Kingdom for civil cases and those matters relating to human rights and devolution.

[46] Prior to the establishment of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom devolution issues were decided by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, whose members were the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (who exercised the judicial functions of the House of Lords.)

[2]: Section 305  Schedule 6 of the Scotland Act 1998 also grants that Acts of Adjournal can be used to regulate the procedure for referring a question of law relating to a devolution issue to either the High Court or the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

The Criminal Courts Rules Council on 8 February 2016 considered Section 288BA of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (which prescribes rules for dockets and indictments for sexual offences) and asked the Lord President's Private Office to consider if this could be modified by Act of Adjournal.

As of April 2017[update] the Principal Clerk was Graeme Marwick, who was also Director of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service.