Robert Bannatyne Finlay, 1st Viscount Finlay, (11 July 1842 – 9 March 1929), known as Sir Robert Finlay from 1895 to 1916, initially formally qualified as a doctor, was a British barrister and politician, and Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain.

Background and education

Finlay was born at Cherry Bank in Newhaven,

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, the son of William Finlay, a physician, and Ann, daughter of Robert Bannatyne. He was educated at the

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is an independent day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in the city's New Town, is now part of the Senior School. The Junior School is located on Arboretum Ro ...

and

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...

, graduating in medicine in 1864.

Legal and political career

After entering

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's I ...

as a student in 1865, Finlay was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

two years later and built up a successful practice, becoming a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

in 1882. Three years later he was elected Liberal Member of Parliament for the Inverness Burghs, but broke with

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-con ...

over

Irish Home Rule The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1870 to the ...

and joined the Liberal Unionists in 1886. He lost his seat in 1892 but regained it three years later, the same year he was appointed Solicitor General and

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the G ...

. In 1900, Finlay became

Attorney General for England and Wales His Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales is one of the law officers of the Crown and the principal legal adviser to sovereign and Government in affairs pertaining to England and Wales. The attorney general maintains the Attorney G ...

and also became President of the Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club, and gave the Toast to Sir Walter at the club's annual dinner. In November 1902 he was elected

Lord Rector A rector (Latin for 'ruler') is a senior official in an educational institution, and can refer to an official in either a university or a secondary school. Outside the English-speaking world the rector is often the most senior official in a un ...

of Edinburgh University for three years, and the same month he was elected Treasurer of the

for the ensuing year. For his services in representing the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

in a number of international legal arbitrations he was appointed

GCMG The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...

in 1904, and the following year became a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...

. However, in the

1906 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1906. Asia * 1906 Persian legislative election Europe * 1906 Belgian general election * 1906 Croatian parliamentary election * Denmark ** 1906 Danish Folketing election ** 1906 Danish Landsting electi ...

he again lost his seat, and it was four years before he returned to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

as member for Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities. One of his last official acts as Attorney General was to appoint his son, William Finlay, as the junior counsel to the

Board of Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

, an appointment which provoked much negative comment.

Judicial career

On 19 December 1916, Finlay became

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...

in Lloyd George's coalition government, being at the same time created Baron Finlay, of

Nairn Nairn (; gd, Inbhir Narann) is a town and royal burgh in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is an ancient fishing port and market town around east of Inverness, at the point where the River Nairn enters the Moray Firth. It is the tradit ...

in the

County of Nairn The County of Nairn (also called Nairnshire) ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Narann) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. The county was used for local administration until the county council, based at the county t ...

. It is generally thought that Finlay was a temporary appointment: Lloyd George excluded him from the

War Cabinet A war cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war to efficiently and effectively conduct that war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers, although it is quite common for a war cabinet to have senio ...

and insisted that he forego the £5,000 pension given to retired lord chancellors. He sat on the Woolsack for three years, and in 1919, on his retirement, was created Viscount Finlay, of Nairn in the County of Nairn on 27 March. The following year he was appointed a British member of the

Court of Arbitration A Court of Arbitration is a court, sometimes outside of the official judicial system of a country, that resolves certain kinds of civil disputes, primarily between industrial or commercial entities, or between employers and employees. The Court ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, and in 1921 was elected a Judge of the

Permanent Court of International Justice The Permanent Court of International Justice, often called the World Court, existed from 1922 to 1946. It was an international court attached to the League of Nations. Created in 1920 (although the idea of an international court was several cent ...

established by the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference th ...

. As a judge of the Permanent Court, he participated in the celebrated '' Lotus'' case in 1927, where the Court, by a bare majority, laid down the "Lotus principle" that States may exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction i.e. they may apply their national laws beyond their own borders, in any case where this is not explicitly prohibited. Finlay himself dissented from the majority decision. Finlay received the

freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving one ...

of the Royal burgh of

on 1 October 1902.

Family

Lord Finlay married Mary, daughter of

Cosmo Innes Cosmo Nelson Innes FRSE (9 September 1798 – 31 July 1874) was a Scottish advocate, judge, historian and antiquary. He served as Advocate-Depute, Sheriff of Elginshire, and Principal Clerk of Session. He was a skilled decipherer of ancient ...

, in 1874. She died in June 1911. Lord Finlay died in March 1929, aged 86, at his home in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensington Garden ...

, London, and was buried at Nairn. He was succeeded in his titles by his son,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, later a

Lord Justice of Appeal A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Justic ...

Cases

* ''

Cotman v Brougham ''Cotman v Brougham'' 918AC 514 is UK company law case concerning the objects clause of a company, and the problems involving the ''ultra vires'' doctrine. It held that a clause stipulating the courts should not read long lists of objects as sub ...

'' 918AC 514 * ''

Lotus case The ''Lotus'' case concerns a criminal trial which was the result of the 2 August 1926 collision between the S.S. ''Lotus'', a French steamer, and the S.S. ''Bozkourt'', a Turkish steamer, in a region just north of Mytilene (Greece). As a result ...

'' 1927 PCIJ series A No.9

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Finlay, Robert Finlay, 1st Viscount People educated at Edinburgh Academy Lord chancellors of Great Britain Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Highland constituencies Scottish Liberal Party MPs Lawyers from Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom 1842 births 1929 deaths Solicitors General for England and Wales Attorneys General for England and Wales Rectors of the University of Edinburgh UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1895–1900 UK MPs 1900–1906 UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 UK MPs who were granted peerages Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities Permanent Court of International Justice judges Members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration Liberal Unionist Party MPs for Scottish constituencies Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George British judges of international courts and tribunals Conservative Party (UK) life peers Unionist Party (Scotland) MPs Barons created by George V Viscounts created by George V Politicians from Edinburgh