Court of the Lord Lyon

The Court of the Lord Lyon, also called the Lyon Court, is a standing court of law in Scotland that regulates heraldry. It sits in New Register House in Edinburgh and keeps the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland, in which grants of arms are recorded, together with genealogical records. The court is headed by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, who must be legally qualified because he holds criminal jurisdiction in heraldic matters, and it has its own prosecutor in the form of a procurator fiscal, so it is fully part of the Scottish legal system. It is a public body, and fees for grants of arms go to the Treasury. Unlike the College of Arms in England, which is a royal corporation and not a court, the Lyon Court exercises judicial power over who may bear arms.