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Lord Justice Clerk
The Lord Justice Clerk is the second most senior judge in Scotland, after the Lord President of the Court of Session. The current Lord Justice Clerk is Lord Beckett, who was appointed to the position on 4 February 2025, succeeding Lady Dorrian who had been the first female to hold the office. History In modern times, most judges appointed as Lord Justice Clerk later become Lord President of the Court of Session. Originally ''clericus justiciarie'' or Clerk to the Court of Justiciary, the counterpart in the criminal courts of the Lord Clerk Register, the status of the office increased over time and the Justice-Clerk came to claim a seat on the Bench by practice and custom. This was recognised by the Privy Council of Scotland in 1663 and the Lord Justice Clerk became the effective head of the reformed High Court of Justiciary in 1672 when the court was reconstituted. The Lord Justice Clerk now rarely presides at criminal trials in the High Court, with most of their time be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leeona Dorrian, Lady Dorrian
Leeona June Dorrian, Lady Dorrian PC, KC (born 16 June 1957) is a Scottish advocate and judge who served as the Lord Justice Clerk from 2016 until her retirement from judicial office on 3 February 2025. She was the first woman to hold the position of Lord Justice Clerk. She was a Senator of the College of Justice from 2005 until her retirement in 2025, having served as a temporary judge for three years prior. Early life Dorrian was born in Edinburgh and educated at Cranley Girls' School in the city. She studied at the School of Law of the University of Aberdeen, graduating LL.B. in 1977, and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1981. Early career Dorrian served as Standing Junior Counsel to the Health and Safety Executive and Commission between 1987 and 1994, Advocate Depute between 1988 and 1991, and as Standing Junior to the Department of Energy between 1991 and 1994. She was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1994, and called to the English Bar in 1991, at the Inne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Beckett, Lord Beckett
John Beckett, Lord Beckett is a Scottish lawyer who was appointed as Lord Justice Clerk on 4 February 2025 having served as a Senator of the College of Justice, a judge of the Court of Session, since 2016. Beckett was Solicitor General for Scotland, the country's junior Law Officer from October 2006 to May 2007. He was appointed by Labour First Minister Jack McConnell on the appointment of former Solicitor General Elish Angiolini to the senior role of Lord Advocate. After the 2007 Scottish election, newly elected Scottish National Party First Minister Alex Salmond replaced Labour Party member Beckett with Frank Mulholland, who later became Lord Advocate. Beckett then became floating sheriff sitting mainly at Glasgow Sheriff Court. Early life Beckett was born in Crawley, a town in West Sussex about 28 miles (45 km) south of London. His family moved to Edinburgh in 1968 and he was educated at Edinburgh Academy and Broughton High School before studying at the School of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Flodden
The Battle of Flodden, Flodden Field, or occasionally Branxton or Brainston Moor was fought on 9 September 1513 during the War of the League of Cambrai between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland and resulted in an English victory. The battle was fought near Branxton, Northumberland, Branxton, in the county of Northumberland, in northern England, between an invading Scots army under King James IV of Scotland, James IV and an English army commanded by the Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Surrey. In terms of troop numbers, it was the largest battle ever fought between the two kingdoms.''The Seventy Greatest Battles of All Time''. Published by Thames & Hudson Ltd. 2005. Edited by Jeremy Black. pp. 95–97. . After besieging and capturing several English border castles, James encamped his invading army on a commanding hilltop position at Flodden, awaited the English force that had been sent against him and declined a challenge to fight in an open field. Surr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Lockhart Of Lee
Sir William Lockhart of Lee (1621–1675), was a Scottish soldier and diplomat who fought for the Covenanters during the 1638 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Following Royalist defeat in the 1642 to 1647 First English Civil War, Lockhart took part in negotiations between Charles I and Scottish Engagers, who agreed to restore him to the English throne. The Engagers were defeated and Charles executed in January 1649. Captured at Wigan in 1648, Lockhart was released in 1649 but excluded by the Kirk Party when they invaded England in order to restore Charles II. This ended with defeat in 1651 and Scotland was incorporated into the English Commonwealth in 1654. After his marriage to Oliver Cromwell's niece in 1654, Lockhart was appointed to a number of diplomatic and political posts under the Commonwealth. These included Commissioner for Justice in Scotland and Ambassador to France, 1656 to 1660. In this role, he helped negotiate the 1657 Treaty of Paris, an Anglo-Frenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Lockhart Of Lee
Sir James Lockhart, Laird of Lee (1596-1674) was a Scottish courtier, politician and judge, and a royalist commander of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Life He was son of Sir James Lockhart XI of Lee, of a lairdly family, by his wife, Jean Weir of Stonebyres, Lanarkshire. While still a young man he was a gentleman of the privy chamber to Charles I, and was knighted. He sat in the Scottish parliaments of 1630 and 1633 as commissioner for Lanarkshire, and was appointed lord of the articles on 20 June 1633. Lockhart did not sit in the parliament of 1641, perhaps because of his adherence to the Marquis of Hamilton. In 1644, and again in 1645, he contested Lanarkshire against Sir William Hamilton, and on the second occasion with success: on the first there was a disputed return decided, 5 June 1644, in favour of Hamilton. On 1 February 1645 he was appointed a commissioner of the exchequer, and on 2 July 1646 an ordinary lord of session in succession to Lord Durie the elder, who had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Home, Of Renton, Lord Renton
Sir John Home of Renton, Lord Renton (died 13 July 1671) was appointed Lord Justice Clerk by King Charles II. He was also a Senator of the College of Justice with the title Lord Renton. Life John Home was the son of Sir Alexander Home of Renton and Margaret Cockburn. Alexander Home was Sheriff of Berwickshire from 1616 to 1621. John Home wrote to his cousin Sir Patrick Home of Polworth that his father had conducted eight witch trials in his jurisdiction. An Instrument of Sasine dated at Edinburgh 28 August 1671, by Sir Alexander Home of Renton, knight, eldest lawful son to the late Sir John Home of Renton, knight, with the consent of his brother Patrick Home, Sir John's second son, granting to George Home of Kames, the lands of Northfield, with East and Wester Lochs, and the lands of Fewalls in the barony of Coldingham, Berwickshire. Sasine was given on 29 November 1673 and recorded in the General Register on 7 January 1674. Criticism Lord Fountainhall stated that Sir John Ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Moray
Sir Robert Moray (alternative spellings: Murrey, Murray) FRS (1608 or 1609 – 4 July 1673) was a Scottish soldier, statesman, diplomat, judge, spy, and natural philosopher. He was well known to Charles I and Charles II, and to the French cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin. He attended the meeting of the 1660 committee of 12 on 28 November 1660 that led to the formation of the Royal Society, and was influential in gaining its Royal Charter and formulating its statutes and regulations. He was also one of the founders of modern Freemasonry in Great Britain. Early life and education Moray was the elder of two sons of a Perthshire laird, Sir Mungo Moray of Craigie. His grandfather was Robert Moray of Abercairny (near Crieff), and his mother was a daughter of George Halket of Pitfirran, Dunfermline. An uncle, David Moray, had been a personal servant of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales. Some biographers have claimed that Moray attended the University of St Andrews ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Carmichael, 1st Lord Carmichael
Earl of Hyndford was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1701 for John Carmichael, 2nd Lord Carmichael, Secretary of State from 1696 to 1707. He was made Lord Carmichael and Viscount of Inglisberry and Nemphlar at the same time, also in the Peerage of Scotland. He was the grandson of James Carmichael, who had been created a Baronet, of Westraw in the County of Lanark, in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia in 1627, and raised to the Peerage of Scotland as Lord Carmichael in 1647. The third Earl was a prominent diplomat. The titles became dormant on the death of the sixth Earl in 1817, and were later unsuccessfully claimed by James Carmichael Smyth and his great-grandson James Morse Carmichael. Lords Carmichael (1647) * James Carmichael, 1st Lord Carmichael (1579–1672) * John Carmichael, 2nd Lord Carmichael (1638–1710) (created Earl of Hyndford in 1701) Earls of Hyndford (1701) *John Carmichael, 1st Earl of Hyndford (1638–1710) *Brig.-General James Carmichael, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Elphinstone
George Elphinstone of Blythswood (died 1634) was a Scottish landowner, courtier, and Provost of Glasgow. Life George Elphinstone was the son of George Elphinstone of Blythswood (died 2 April 1585), a leading Glasgow merchant and shipowner, and Marion Scott. He was knighted during the celebrations at the baptism of Prince Henry at Stirling Castle on 30 August 1594. He was made a gentleman of the king's bedchamber in 1596. In this role he controlled the access to James VI of Scotland allowed to the English diplomatic agent, George Nicholson, occasionally bringing him secretly into the king's cabinet at Holyroodhouse. He was a member of a "knot of friendship" at the Scottish court that included the Secretary, Sir George Home, Sir Robert Kerr, the younger Sir Robert Melville, and Sir David Murray. These chamber servants paid for the baptism of Princess Margaret in April 1599, because they had displaced the treasurer Walter Stewart of Blantyre. Elphinstone's popularity wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ormiston
Ormiston is a village in East Lothian, Scotland, near Tranent, Humbie, Pencaitland and Cranston, located on the north bank of the River Tyne at an elevation of about . The village was the first planned village in Scotland, founded in 1735 by John Cockburn (1685–1758), one of the initiators of the Agricultural Revolution. Name The word Ormiston is derived from a half mythical Norwegian Viking settler called ''Ormr'', meaning 'serpent' or 'snake'. 'Ormres' family had possession of the land during the 12th and 13th centuries. Ormiston or 'Ormistoun' is not an uncommon surname, and ''Ormr'' also survives in some English placenames such as Ormskirk and Ormesby. The latter part of the name, formerly spelt 'toun', is likely to descend from its Northumbrian Old English and later Scots meaning as 'farmstead' or 'farm and outbuildings' rather than the meaning 'town'. There was an "Ormiston" in Berwickshire, near Linton, where the legend of the Worm of Linton was related t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Cockburn (died 1623)
John Cockburn of Ormiston (died 1623) was a Scottish lawyer and landowner. Career He was the son of John Cockburn of Ormiston and Alison Sandilands (died 1584), a daughter of Sir John Sandilands of Calder. His older brother Alexander Cockburn died in 1563, his epitaph by George Buchanan recording his travels and achievements engraved on a brass plate is at the National Museum of Scotland. John Cockburn succeeded his father as laird of Ormiston in East Lothian in 1583. James VI came to Ormiston to hunt deer on 22 November 1588. Cockburn was a member of the Privy Council and the council ruling Scotland when James VI was in Norway and Denmark. He was knighted at the coronation of Anne of Denmark on 17 May 1590, where he gave an oath of loyal service on behalf of the people of Scotland. He was again honored with knighthood at Parliament in 1592. Cockburn was Lord Justice Clerk after Lewis Bellenden. On 26 October 1591, during the North Berwick witch trials James VI gave him a com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lewis Bellenden Of Auchnole & Broughton
Sir Lewis Bellenden of Auchnole and Broughton (c. 1552 – 27 August 1591) was a Scottish lawyer, who succeeded his father as Lord Justice Clerk on 15 March 1577. Family background He was the eldest son of Sir John Bellenden of Auchnole & Broughton and Barbara Kennedy, a daughter of Hugh Kennedy of Girvanmains. Career He was knighted about 1577 and became the Justice Clerk. On 1 July 1584 he was promoted as a Lord Ordinary as a Senator of the College of Justice, in place of Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington. He was not averse to the conspiracies of the period and was one of the conspirators involved in the notorious Raid of Ruthven, and Godscroft represents him as extremely violent on the occasion. Sir Lewis does not seem, however, to have shared in the ruin which attended his co-conspirators, joining the College of Justice in 1584. He bore a principal part in the downfall of the Earl of Arran, and the return of the banished Lords, although he was despatched by the former, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
