The Hon. David Monypenny, Lord Pitmilly (1769–1850) was a Scottish lawyer who rose to be 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
He was born in May 1769 the son of Lt Col Alexander Monypenny of
Pitmilly in
Fife
Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...
, and his wife Margaret Chamberlain.
After training in law he rose to be
Sheriff of Fife
There are two distinct sheriffdoms associated with the region of Fife in Scotland. In 1881, the administrative sheriffdom was combined with the former sheriffdom of Kinross, resulting in the establishment of the Sheriff of Fife and Kinross. Thi ...
from 1807 to 1811. From 1811 to 1813 he was
Solicitor General for Scotland
His Majesty's Solicitor General for Scotland () is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Lord Advocate, whose duty is to advise the Scottish Government on Scots Law. They are also responsible for the Crown Office and P ...
, succeeding
David Boyle.
In February 1813 he took the place of the recently deceased
Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee as a Senator of the College of Justice.
He retired in 1830 and began writing, especially on the then new
Poor Laws
The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief in England and Wales that developed out of the codification of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws in 1587–1598. The system continued until the modern welfare state emerged in the late 1940s.
E ...
.
He died in 1850.
Family
In 1810 he married Maria-Sophia (d. 1846), daughter of
Sir George Abercrombie, 4th Baronet of Birkenbog.
They had no children. His estates were inherited by his nephew, William Tankerville Monypenny.
[Burke's Peerage]
His brothers included Alexander Monypenny, an Edinburgh lawyer, and William Monypenny, collector of customs in
Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy ( ; ; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, making it Fife's second-largest s ...
.
Publications
*''Remarks on the
Poor Laws
The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief in England and Wales that developed out of the codification of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws in 1587–1598. The system continued until the modern welfare state emerged in the late 1940s.
E ...
'' (1834)
*''Proposed Alterations to the Scottish Poor Laws'' (1840)
References
1769 births
1850 deaths
People from Fife
Senators of the College of Justice
Scottish sheriffs
19th-century Scottish judges
{{Scotland-law-bio-stub