Robert Dundas of Arniston, the younger,
FRSE (18 July 1713 – 13 December 1787) was a Scottish judge. He served as
Solicitor General for Scotland
, body =
, insignia = Crest of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg
, insigniasize = 110px
, image = File:Official Portrait of Ruth Charteris QC.png
, incumbent = Ruth Charteris KC
, incumbentsince = 22 June 2021
, department = Crown Office and ...
from 1742 to 1746, as
Lord Advocate
His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate ( gd, Morair Tagraidh, sco, Laird Advocat), is the chief legal officer of the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for both civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolved p ...
from 1754 to 1760, and as
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
for
Midlothian from 1754 to 1761. He was
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 ...
from 1760 to 1787, losing his popularity for giving his casting vote against
Archibald Douglas in the famous
Douglas Cause
The Douglas Cause was a cause célèbre and legal struggle contested in Great Britain during the 1760s. The main parties were Archibald Douglas (1748–1827) and James Douglas-Hamilton, 7th Duke of Hamilton (1755–1769). The affair gripped the ...
.
Life and career
![Robert Dundas, Lord Arniston, the younger](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Robert_Dundas%2C_Lord_Arniston%2C_the_younger.jpg)
Robert Dundas was the eldest son of
Robert Dundas of Arniston
Robert Dundas of Arniston (6 June 1758 – 17 June 1819) was a Scottish judge.
Dundas served as Solicitor General for Scotland between 1784 and 1789 and as Lord Advocate from 1789 to 1801. He sat as Member of Parliament for was M.P. for Edinb ...
(1685–1753), Lord President of the Court of Session, by Elizabeth Watson, his first wife. He was educated first at home and at school, and then at the
University of Edinburgh
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 15 ...
. In 1733, he proceeded to
Utrecht University
Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...
, then celebrated for the teaching of Roman law, and also visited
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
.
Returning to Scotland in 1737, Dundas was admitted an advocate in 1738. He was quick, ingenious and eloquent, and had a retentive memory. Like his father, he was convivial and shirked drudgery. He is said, though a good scholar, never to have read through a book after leaving college. Being solely ambitious of attaining to the bench, he refused many cases, especially those which involved writing papers, and took only such work as seemed to lead to advancement. For his first five years, his fees only averaged £280 per annum. Through the favour of the
Carteret administration, he was appointed
Solicitor General for Scotland
, body =
, insignia = Crest of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg
, insigniasize = 110px
, image = File:Official Portrait of Ruth Charteris QC.png
, incumbent = Ruth Charteris KC
, incumbentsince = 22 June 2021
, department = Crown Office and ...
on 11 August 1742, and, no change occurring in the Scotch department on
Lord Wilmington's death, held that post through the arduous and responsible times of the
Jacobite plots and the
rising of 1745
The Jacobite rising of 1745, also known as the Forty-five Rebellion or simply the '45 ( gd, Bliadhna Theàrlaich, , ), was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took pl ...
. Being, however, unable to act easily with
Lord Milton, the
lord justice clerk
The Lord Justice Clerk is the second most senior judge in Scotland, after the 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 ...
, he resigned in 1746 upon the change of ministry, but was at once elected
dean of the faculty.
On 16 August 1754, Dundas was appointed
Lord Advocate
His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate ( gd, Morair Tagraidh, sco, Laird Advocat), is the chief legal officer of the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for both civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolved p ...
, having been returned for
Midlothian unopposed on 25 April at the general election. While in parliament, he opposed the establishment of a militia in Scotland, and, as lord advocate, was largely occupied in settling the
new conditions of the highlands, and in disposing of his great patronage so as to enhance the family influence. But one speech of his in parliament is recorded,
Dundas was appointed a commissioner of fisheries on 17 June 1755, and on the death of
Robert Craigie, he became lord president of the
court of session, 14 June 1760. He found upwards of two years' arrears of cases undecided, and having by great efforts disposed of them, he never allowed his case-list to fall into arrears again. He was the best lord president who had filled the office, short but weighty in his judgements, thorough in his grasp of the cases, indignant at chicane, a punctilious guardian of the dignity of the court, a chief who called forth all the faculties of his colleagues.
Having, on 7 July 1767, given the casting vote against the claimant, Archibald Stewart, in the Douglas peerage case, he became very unpopular, and during the tumultuous rejoicings at Edinburgh, after the House of Lords had reversed that decision on 2 March 1769, the mob insulted him and attacked his house. In his latter years his eyesight failed, and after a short illness he died at his house in Adam's Square on 13 December 1787, and was buried with great pomp at Borthwick on 18 December
[His portrait, by Raeburn, is preserved at Arniston, and is engraved in the ''Arniston Memoirs'' ]
Family
Part of a remarkable Scottish legal and political dynasty, his great-grandfather
James Dundas, Lord Arniston (died 1679) and grandfather
Robert Dundas, Lord Arniston (died 1726) had been MPs and judges, as was his father,
Robert Dundas of Arniston, the Elder
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
.
Dundas married, firstly, on 17 October 1741, Henrietta Baillie, daughter of Sir James Carmichael Baillie of Lamington and Bonnytoun, who died on 3 May 1755; and, secondly, in September 1756, Jean, daughter of
William Grant, Lord Prestongrange
William Grant, Lord Prestongrange (1701 – 23 May 1764), was a Scottish politician and judge.
Grant was procurator for the Church of Scotland and Clerk to the General Assembly in 1731. He campaigned against patronage in the Church. He was appo ...
. By his first wife, he had four daughters, of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married
Sir John Lockhart-Ross, 6th Baronet; and by his second four sons, of whom
Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
, the eldest, became lord advocate, and two daughters. The three younger sons all had notable careers:
Francis became a general and acting governor of the Cape Colony between 1798 and 1803,
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
became a lawyer and Member of Parliament, and
Philip became superintendent of Bombay, a Member of Parliament, and governor of
Prince of Wales Island.
Notes
References
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;Attribution
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Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dundas, Robert
1713 births
1787 deaths
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies
Senators of the College of Justice
Scottish lawyers
Robert Dundas
Lords President of the Court of Session
Founder Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
British MPs 1754–1761
Solicitors General for Scotland
Lord Advocates
Paintings by Henry Raeburn