(Donald) Neil MacCormick was born on 27 May 1941. He was educated at Glasgow's High School, and he studied at Glasgow University, then Balliol College, Oxford. He was awarded an Edinburgh University LLD in 1982. Between 1965 and 1967 he was a Lecturer at St. Andrews University (at Queen's College, Dundee, now Dundee University). From 1967 until 1972 he was a Fellow and Tutor in Jurisprudence at Balliol College, and from 1968 until 1972 was also a Lecturer in Law at Oxford University. MacCormick came to Edinburgh University in 1972. He was Dean of the Faculty of Law, 1973-1976. He is currently Regius Professor of Public Law. He has been a visiting professor at universities in Australia, the USA, and Sweden. MacCormick has fought to enter Parliament on several occasions, for the Scottish National Party (SNP), contesting Edinburgh North (1979) and Edinburgh Pentlands (1983 and 1987), and Argyll and Bute (1992 and 1997). In 1999 he became a Member of the European Parliament representing the SNP. His publications include, as editor, The Scottish debate: Essays on Scottish nationalism (1970), and Lawyers in their social setting (1976), and also Legal reasoning and legal theory (1978), H. L. A. Hart (1981), Legal right and social democracy: Essays in legal and political philosophy (1982), and with O. Weinberger Grundlagen des Intstitutionalistischen Rechtspositivismus (1985). More recently his work includes Interpreting precedents (1997), and Questioning sovereignty (1999). MacCormick was knighted in 2001.
From the guide to the Papers of Professor Sir D. Neil MacCormick (b. 1941), 1985-2003, (Edinburgh University Library)
