Donald James Dobbie Macfadyen, Lord Macfadyen (8 September 1945 – 11 April 2008) was a highly regarded

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

lawyer who served as a judge for over a decade. In 2002, he was one of the five judges who heard the appeal of

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi ( , ; 1 April 1952 – 20 May 2012) was a Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie bombing of Pan Am flight 103. He was head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies in Trip ...

against his conviction for the bombing in 1998 of

Pan Am Flight 103 Pan Am Flight 103 (PA103/PAA103) was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. Shortly after 19:00 on 21 December 1988, the Boeing 747 "Clipper Maid of th ...

Life

Macfadyen was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, to Donald and Christina Macfadyen. He was educated at Hutchesons' Boys Grammar School and then at

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

, where he won many prizes and graduated in law in 1967. In 1969, Macfadyen was admitted to the

Faculty of Advocates The Faculty of Advocates () is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a const ...

, at the unusually young age of 23. He was an

advocate depute The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service () is the independent public prosecutor, prosecution service for Scotland, and is a Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government. The department is headed by Charles III of the United Kingd ...

(prosecutor) from 1979 to 1982, and was standing junior counsel to the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland from 1977 to 1979 and to the Scottish Home and Health Department from 1982 to 1983. Macfadyen became a

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1983, aged only 38. From 1989 to 1995 he was a part-time chairman of Medical Appeal Tribunals and Vaccine Damage Tribunals. From 1991 to 1992 he was counsel to the inquiry into the

Orkney child abuse scandal The Orkney child abuse scandal was a controversy which began on 27 February 1991 when social workers and police removed five boys and four girls, all between the ages of eight and fifteen, from their homes in South Ronaldsay, Orkney due to alle ...

, when children had been removed from their parents following allegations of ritualistic abuse. This high-profile cases established his reputation, and from 1992 to 1995 he was vice-dean of the Faculty of Advocates. He died on 11 April 2008. His ashes are buried in

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and o ...

in western Edinburgh, slightly north of the main entrance, facing the eastern path.

Judge

In 1994 Macfadyen one of the first people to be appointed a temporary judge of the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the highest national court of Scotland in relation to Civil law (common law), civil cases. The court was established in 1532 to take on the judicial functions of the royal council. Its jurisdiction overlapped with othe ...

. In 1995 his promotion was made permanent, when he was appointed as a

Senator of the College of Justice The senators of the College of Justice in Scotland are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of senator: Lords of Session (judges of the Court ...

Inner House The Inner House is the senior part of the Court of Session, the supreme civil court in Scotland; the Outer House forms the junior part of the Court of Session. It is a court of appeal and a court of first instance. The chief justice is th ...

in 2002

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macfaydyen, Donald 1945 births 2008 deaths Lawyers from Glasgow People educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School Alumni of the University of Glasgow Members of the Faculty of Advocates Scottish King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Burials at the Dean Cemetery