Ohituary Notices, 
XXIX 
thought of the profession of Civil Engineering, but, yielding to his 
father’s wish, entered on the study of Law, attended the lectures of 
that Faculty, and wrote in the chambers of a Writer to the Signet. 
He passed as an Advocate in 1843, and while he never enjoyed 
much practice at the bar, took a lively interest and possessed a 
sound knowledge in several departments of the Law. He was 
proud of and devoted to his profession, and supported by a modest 
estimate of his own talents, he did not, like so many, quit its ranks, 
but continued the study of the law in those branches which interested 
him most. He acquired what was then becoming rare, and has since 
become rarer, a considerable knowledge of Eoman Law, and his ecclesi- 
astical sympathies encouraged him to study its rival and successor, 
the Canon Law, whose remoteness from modern practice has led 
to its almost total neglect by Scottish lawyers, although some know- 
ledge of it is necessary to an accurate acquaintance with the history 
and meaning of several parts of their own jurisprudence. The 
criminal law had always an attraction for him, and he edited several 
volumes of the Justiciary Reports, as well as a separate report of the 
trial of Madeline Smith ; but after the apprenticeship of circuit, he 
did not practise in the Criminal Courts. 
Though not naturally inclined to authorship, he wrote a book on 
the Game Laws with an elegance not common in legal literature. 
He also wrote several reviews for Mr Joseph Robertson, when editor 
of the Courant, on Art, Painting, Music, and Italian Literature, 
a language he knew well and enjoyed. He was appointed to 
the principal clerkship of the Justiciary Court in 1867, and to the 
sheriffship of Argyle in 1871, and he discharged the duties of both, 
offices with assiduity and conscientiousness, resigning the latter 
when the advance of age warned him that it was time to restrict 
his work. 
As sheriff he was called upon to act in one of the varied (but for- 
tunately rare) functions of that office, and led with discretion and 
success the naval and military force in the expedition to Tyree, 
where the law had been defied, and required to apply its ultimate 
sanction. In another ordinary, and more agreeable, portion of a 
sheriff’s duties — the business of the Board of Northern Lights — he 
took great interest. He was constant in attendance at the meetings 
of that Board, as well as of the Board of Eisheries, and was rarely 
