Dalrymple, James, 1st Viscount Stair

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Dalrymple, James, 1st Viscount Stair [S] (1619–95). Scottish lawyer and statesman. Born in Ayrshire, Dalrymple was a presbyterian. He was knighted at the Restoration and appointed a lord of Session. By 1681 he was in disfavour, lost his offices, and retired to Holland. He was accused of complicity in plots against Charles II and indicted for treason in 1685. He accompanied William of Orange on his expedition in 1688, was restored as president of the Court of Session, and promoted to the peerage in 1690. In 1681 he published Institution of the Law of Scotland, and was regarded by Macaulay as ‘the greatest jurist that his country had produced’.

J. A. Cannon

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James Dalrymple 1st Viscount Stair

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