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member of the firm of Mackenzie & Macfarlane. He passed at the 
Bar of Scotland in 1838, thus commencing his career as a barrister 
at the age of thirty-six, — 12 or 14 years later than the average age of 
entrants to the Faculty of Advocates. Such an experiment is 
always hazardous, for all pursuits require a period of initiation ; and 
the advantages of experience are usually more than counterbalanced 
by the absence of the elasticity of youth, the formation of con- 
firmed habits of thought, and the necessary disparity between the 
age and the professional standing of the man. But Mr Macfarlane’s 
energy, industry, and knowledge enabled him to surmount without 
an effort difficulties which so often prove fatal ; and he was very 
quickly abreast of the general body of well-employed counsel. 
This position was rapidly gained, and firmly maintained and in- 
creased, and his previous legal training had been so thorough, and 
his knowledge of the practical application of law so complete, as to 
give him many advantages in the field. He was at one time the 
best employed junior in the Parliament House. As a counsel in jury 
trials he was eminent and successful, a department in which his 
natural sagacity and extensive knowledge of men, and of the 
springs of action, came to his aid with great effect. He had, in 1837, 
before entering the Faculty of Advocates, published a work on “ Jury 
Practice,” and he followed this up in 1841 by an important volume 
of “ Keports of Cases tried by Jury,” and in 1844-49, in conjunction 
with Mr Thomas Cleghorn, he published a well known treatise on 
“ The Forms of Issues in Jury Trials.” 
In 1853 Mr Macfarlane was appointed to the important Sheriff- 
ship of Benfrewshire, a county, the judicial affairs of which he 
administered for nine years with great efficiency and popularity. 
He was elevated to the Bench in 1862, by the title of Lord Ormidale, 
remaining twelve years in the Outer House, and removing in 1874 
to the Second Division of the Inner House. 
On the Bench he more than maintained the reputation he had 
vindicated at the Bar. His conscientious labour, thorough know- 
ledge of business, and clear common sense, were qualities which 
he combined with a complete mastery of all branches of the pro- 
fession. In legal dialectics he engaged sparingly, fixing his attention 
exclusively on the practical questions and interests in the case 
immediately before him, and throwing aside with unusual facility 
