Lord Uist made the comment during a judicial review of East Renfrewshire’s catchment area policy for St Ninian’s High School, in Giffnock – the country’s top-performing Catholic secondary.

East Renfrewshire has always argued that automatic admission to St Ninian’s can only be given to families living in specified streets – despite the fact documentation setting out the catchment area repeatedly refers to a “delineated area”.

Lord Uist, who is presiding over the judicial review, told lawyers representing East Renfrewshire: “It is a contradiction to say that a delineated area is a list of streets. A delineated area means a delineated area.”

He went on to tell the hearing, at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, that a catchment area policy based on a list of streets “seems a little odd”.

However, Christine O’Neill, a solicitor advocate representing East Renfrewshire, insisted the original intention of the catchment area, drawn up by Strathclyde Regional Council in 1992, was to regulate entry to the popular school through a tightly controlled list of streets.

“It is clear that, in this instance, delineation is by description and the delineated area is described by a list of streets,” she said.

“The decision in 1992 ..... describes the delineated area by a list of streets and it was not unlawful and it is a matter of fact that that is what Strathclyde Regional Council did.

“It may or may not have been odd that Strathclyde made that decision, but East Renfrewshire’s interpretation is correct.”

The current case centres on 11-year-old pupil Blaire Bowie, who lives in part of a school catchment area between Glasgow and East Renfrewshire that neither local authority believes is their responsibility.

Although part of the catchment is now in Glasgow following local government reorganisation in 1996, parents there were given the continued right to attend St Ninian’s as it was set up to serve the needs of Catholic families in the wider area.

However, East Renfrew­shire insists this condition covers only specified older streets, rather than the area as a whole – leaving those in new developments with no automatic right to entry.

Blaire’s father Robert, from Parklands Meadow, a new estate in the disputed area, is now challenging that interpretation in the hope Blaire can attend St Ninian’s when she leaves primary school this summer.

He also argues that, if he is correct that East Renfrewshire’s catchment policy is unlawful, then a consultation being run by the council to remove all Glasgow homes is flawed and should be abandoned.

However, Ms O’Neill disputed the claims and argued the case has no bearing on the consultation because its effect will be to remove the whole area from the catchment, regardless of the current dispute.