Judge's evidence on supreme court

Lord Cullen has criticised the supreme court plan

Scotland's most senior judge has given evidence to a parliamentary committee about UK Government plans for a new supreme court.

Lord Cullen has criticised the plans which would also see an end to the 1,200-year-old post of Lord Chancellor.

The government wants a supreme court to replace the House of Lords as the final court of appeal for Scottish civil cases.

But the House of Lords voted by 216 to 183 to further scrutinise the plan.

The vote means the government's Constitutional Reform Bill will be examined by a Lords' select committee.

The government could decide to withdraw the bill and reintroduce it in the Commons so it can use the Parliament Act to force through the changes.

Upper house

Lord Cullen outlined his concerns to the Scottish Parliament's Justice 2 Committee on Tuesday.

He said the UK Government had caused "resentment" over the way that the plans were announced.

He suggested that the policy had been decided with little public debate, leaving others to comment only on details.

The Supreme Court should respect the continued separate existence and identify of the two legal systems Lord Cullen

Lord Cullen said that the current arrangements worked "perfectly well".

"The whole problem is when there is so much uncertainty about how much it's going to cost, where is the location going to be, and who's going to pay for it, the proposal acquires an air of uncertainty," he said of the bill.

"And we shouldn't be on the threshold of something pretty fundamental, that's meant to last for years and years, in a complete state of uncertainty."

He said it had to be spelt out "quite explicitly" that an English appeal would not be able to overrule a decision in a Scottish case, and vice versa.

"The Supreme Court should respect the continued separate existence and identify of the two legal systems," he added.