Stair, James Dalrymple, Viscount of, 1619-1695

James Dalrymple was born in May 1619 at Drummurchie, in Carrick. He was the son of the Laird of Stair. Dalrymple was educated at Mauchline in Ayrshire, and then he studied at Glasgow University, graduating in 1637. He then intended to study law at Edinburgh University but the civil war interrupted this. He served as a troop commander and remained in the army until 1641. He became a Regent at Glasgow University, teaching logic, morals, politics and mathematics. He remained there until 1647 when he went to Edinburgh, admitted to the Scottish Bar (becoming an Advocate). For a period he acted as a Commissioner for the Administration of Justice under Cromwell and negotiated with King Charles II in the Netherlands. In 1670, he sat on the negotiations to work out a treaty of union between Scotland and England but these broke down through the insistence of the Scottish side on maintaining the same numbers of representatives in a union parliament as they had in their own. In 1671, Dalrymple became Lord President of the Court of Session but in 1681 he left for the Netherlands in order to avoid signing the Test Oath, another chapter in the on-going persecution of the Covenanters. It was at this time he wrote his Institutions of the law of Scotland which illustrated legal links between Scotland and Europe and preserved Scots law during a time of great upheaval. He returned in 1688 as a supporter of the Glorious Revolution and was re-appointed to his post. He became Viscount Stair in 1690. James Dalrymple, Viscount Stair, died in Edinburgh on 25 November 1695. He was buried in St. Giles, Edinburgh's High Kirk.

From the guide to the Material relating to Sir James Dalrymple, Viscount Stair (1619-1695), 17th century, (Edinburgh University Library)

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