George Gordon Stott, Lord Stott, PC, QC (22 December 1909 – 12 April 1999) was a Scottish advocate, sheriff and

Lord Advocate , body = , insignia = Crest of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg , insigniasize = 110px , image = File:Official Portrait of Dorothy Bain QC.png , incumbent = Dorothy Bain KC , incumbentsince = 22 June 2021 , appointer = Monarch on the advice ...

, the chief legal officer for the Crown and government in Scotland. In retirement Gordon Stott published three volumes of extracts from the diaries he had been keeping throughout his legal career.

Personal life

Gordon Stott was born in 1909, youngest son of Rev Dr George Stott, minister of

Cramond Kirk Cramond Kirk is a church situated in the middle area Cramond parish, in the north west of Edinburgh, Scotland. Built on the site of an old Roman fort, parts of the Cramond Kirk building date back to the fourteenth century and the church tower is ...

, Edinburgh, and Flora Stott. He attended the village school, and went on to

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in the city's New Town, Edinburgh, New Town, is now part of the Se ...

and

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

, where he graduated with first-class honours in Classics and won the Vans Dunlop Scholarship in law. He was a

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

, and during

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he was a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...

, working on the land as alternative to

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require a ...

. On behalf of other conscientious objectors, he acted as ''

pro bono ( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...

'' counsel at tribunals for conscientious objectors. From 1939 to 1944 he edited a

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journal, the ''Edinburgh Clarion''. He unsuccessfully stood for parliament as Labour candidate for Central Aberdeenshire in 1935, Edinburgh West in 1945 and Edinburgh North in 1959. He was a founder member of the Muir Society of Labour Lawyers and secretary of the

Edinburgh and District Trades Council {{Use British English, date=February 2017 The Edinburgh Trade Union Council brings together trade union branches in Edinburgh in Scotland. The first permanent trades council in Edinburgh appears to have been formed in 1853, one of the first in the ...

. In 1947 he married Nancy Braggins and they had two children, Elizabeth and Richard. His hobbies were walking, fishing, reading and golf. Stott was friendly and compassionate, with a plain-spoken and independent manner that showed little tolerance for hypocrisy. Of the government of which he had been a member he wrote "On Vietnam the Government gave the appearance of being committed to support the United States whose bombing aeroplanes continued for no intelligible purpose to lavish on that unfortunate country an increasingly powerful but futile demonstration of the American way of death". In his retirement Stott published three volumes of his diaries filled with amusing and indiscreet anecdotes: Lord Advocate's Diary (1991), Judge's Diary (1995) and QC's Diary (1998).

Legal career

In 1936 Stott was admitted as an advocate 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 constitu ...

where his outspoken

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

politics were unpopular. After the war he was an

Advocate-Depute The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is the independent public prosecution service for Scotland, and is a Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government. The department is headed by His Majesty's Lord Advocate, who under the S ...

(prosecuting counsel); he often acted in industrial accident cases. From 1949 to 1956 Stott was a member of the

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. He took silk, KC, in 1950, becoming

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in 1952. His pleading was a model of forceful economy and he was a formidable opponent having the adverse judgements of Lord Clyde (

Lord President of the Court of Session The Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General is the most senior judge in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, the Court of Session, and the High Court of Justiciary. The L ...

) regularly overturned when Stott appealed them to the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

. Stott later said "... the First Division of the Court of Session fell on evil days and there were some atrocious decisions. We had to go frequently to London to get them put right". Stott was

Sheriff Principal In Scotland a sheriff principal (''pl''. sheriffs principal) is a judge in charge of a sheriffdom with judicial, quasi-judicial, and administrative responsibilities. Sheriffs principal have been part of the judiciary of Scotland since the 11th ce ...

for the sheriffdom of Roxburgh, Berwick and Selkirk between 1961 and 1964. At the start of the

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Labour government of 1964 Stott was appointed as

Privy Councillor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

and Lord Advocate, the senior law officer in Scotland As Lord Advocate – he became known as Lord StottStott did not receive a peerage – his title reflected his position as Lord Advocate and, later, as Senator of the College of Justice – he enjoyed total independence from the government as a public prosecutor and legal adviser. He was responsible for implementing several reforms in the law and for establishing the

Scottish Law Commission The Scottish Law Commission is an advisory non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It was established in 1965 to keep Scots law under review and recommend necessary reforms to improve, simplify and update the country's legal sy ...

. Aware that his position was politically vulnerable, when a senior judicial vacancy became available in 1967, and following tradition, he appointed himself to the bench later saying "I appointed myself, and a jolly good judge I turned out to be". So he became a

Senator of the College of Justice The senators of the College of Justice 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 of Session); ...

( High Court judge in Scotland) in the First Division of the

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 ...

of the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh ...

appeal court. Dealing with custody cases he would often chat informally with the children involved. A boy had said he would prefer to stay with his father. Stott wrote "When I asked him why, he said 'It's the mince. It's not watery'.". He retired at the statutory age of 75 in 1984.

Publications

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Notes

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stott, Gordon 1909 births 1999 deaths 20th-century Scottish writers Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Labour Party (UK) people Lord Advocates Members of the Faculty of Advocates Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Ministers in the Wilson governments, 1964–1970 People educated at Edinburgh Academy 20th-century King's Counsel Scottish Labour parliamentary candidates Scottish King's Counsel Scottish conscientious objectors Scottish diarists Scottish legal writers Scottish sheriffs

Stott The Stotts were a family of architects from Oldham, North West England, of Scottish descent who specialised in the design of cotton mills. James Stott was the father, Joseph and his elder brother Abraham Stott had rival practices, and in later ye ...

20th-century diarists Trade unionists from Edinburgh