Alexander Low, Lord Low (1845–1910) was a Scottish lawyer and judge who served 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 ...

Life

Alexander Low was born on 23 October 1845, the son of Jessy Turnbull of Abbey St. Bathans and her husband, James Low of The Laws,

Berwickshire Berwickshire (; ) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. The county takes its name from Berwick-upon-Tweed, its original county town, which was part of Scotland at the ...

. He was educated at

Cheltenham College Cheltenham College is a public school ( fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1841 as a Church of England foundation and is known for its outstanding linguis ...

then studied Moral Science at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

and

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

. He then began a law course at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. He passed the Scottish Bar as an advocate in 1870. In 1875 he was working as an advocate from 1 Queensferry Street in Edinburgh's West End. In 1889 he was made Sheriff of Ross and Cromarty. In November 1890 he was elected a

. In 1895 he was living at 12 Drumsheugh Gardens, a fine Victorian townhouse. He resigned on grounds of ill-health in 1904 and died at the family home of The Laws on 14 October 1910. He was buried at Whitsome churchyard.

Cases

Lord Low's most noteworthy case was the ''Free Church of Scotland v. the United Free Church of Scotland'' in 1901 (formally known as '' Bannatyne v. Overtoun'') relating to Union between the United Presbyterian Church and the Free Church of Scotland to create the

United Free Church of Scotland The United Free Church of Scotland (UF Church; , ) is a Scottish Presbyterian denomination formed in 1900 by the union of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland (or UP) and the Free Church of Scotland (1843–1900), majority of the 19th-cen ...

. The case centred on the issue as to whether or not the church as a body or the congregations owned church property and echoed earlier arguments of the

Disruption of 1843 The Disruption of 1843, also known as the Great Disruption, was a schism in 1843 in which 450 evangelical ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland. The main conflict was over whether the Church of Sc ...

. Lord Low judged in favour of the United Church and the Free Church lost their property. However, this was overturned by the judicial function of the House of Lords in 1904. The matter was remedied by the Churches (Scotland) Act 1905 (

5 Edw. 7 This is a complete list of acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the year 1905. Note that the first parliament of the United Kingdom was held in 1801; parliaments between 1707 and 1800 were either parliaments of Great Britain or of ...

. c. 12) and two subsequent royal commissions.

Publications

Editor of the ''Scottish Law Reporter''.

Family

He married Annie Adele Mackenzie (1854-1925), daughter of Donald Mackenzie, Lord Mackenzie, on 23 December 1875, and they had three children.

Artistic recognition

He was portrayed by Fiddes Watt.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Low, Alexander 1845 births 1910 deaths People from Berwickshire People educated at Cheltenham College Alumni of the University of St Andrews Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Senators of the College of Justice 19th-century Scottish judges