Robin Gilmour McEwan, commonly called Lord McEwan was a

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 and former

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

of the

High Court of Justiciary The High Court of Justiciary () is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. The High Court is both a trial court and a court of appeal. As a trial court, the High Court sits on circuit at Parliament House or in the adjacent former Sheriff C ...

and

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 ...

, the country's Supreme Courts.

Early life

McEwan was born on 12 December 1943 in

Paisley, Renfrewshire Paisley ( ; ; ) is a large town situated in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Located north of the Gleniffer Braes, the town borders the city of Glasgow to the east, and straddles the banks of the White Cart Water, a tributary of the River ...

, to Ian G. McEwan and Mary McEwan. He was educated at

Paisley Grammar School Paisley Grammar School is a secondary school in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Paisley, the largest town in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The school was founded in 1576 by royal charter of James VI of Scotland, King James VI and is situated on Glasgow Road. T ...

, and the

School of Law A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for bec ...

of the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

, where he graduated with a

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

. He held the Faulds Fellowship in Law at the University from 1965–1968, having been 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 ...

in 1967, and took a Ph.D. in 1969, entitled ''The rights and liabilities of the undisclosed

principal Principal may refer to: Title or rank * Principal (academia), the chief executive of a university ** Principal (education), the head of a school * Principal (civil service) or principal officer, the senior management level in the UK Civil Ser ...

in the

law of agency The law of agency is an area of commercial law dealing with a set of contractual, quasi-contractual and non-contractual fiduciary relationships that involve a person, called the agent, who is authorized to act on behalf of another (called the pri ...

''. From 1974–76, McEwan was Standing Junior Counsel to the

Department of Energy A ministry of energy or department of energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-rela ...

, and was appointed

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 ...

in 1976, serving until 1979. He

took silk A King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarch is a woman, the title is Qu ...

in 1981, and became Chairman of the Industrial Tribunals the same year, serving until 1982, when he was appointed

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

of South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway, first at Lanark but moving in 1988 to Ayr. He was a member of the Scottish Legal Aid Board from 1989 - 1996.

Publications

In 1980, he published a textbook on ''Pleading in Court'' and co-authored ''A Casebook of Damages in Scotland'' with Ann Paton; the two would later be appointed to the bench in the same year. He has also contributed to the Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia.

The Bench

In 1991, McEwan became a temporary judge of the

and

, Scotland's supreme courts, and was appointed a permanent

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 ...

in 2000, taking the judicial title, Lord McEwan. He sat in the

Outer House The Outer House (abbreviated as CSOH in neutral citations) is one of the two parts of the Scottish Court of Session, which is the supreme civil court in Scotland. It is a court of first instance, although some statutory appeals are remitted ...

. He retired in 2008, his vacancy being filled by Valerie Stacey, Lady Stacey.

Personal life

McEwan married Sheena McIntyre in 1973, with whom he has two daughters. He enjoyed golf, and was a member of the

Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers ''The Honourable'' (Commonwealth English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of cert ...

and Prestwick Gold Club, and the

New Club The New Club is a private social club in the New Town, Edinburgh, New Town area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded in 1787, it is Scotland's oldest club. The club occupied premises on St Andrew Square from 1809 until 1837, when it moved to purpo ...

, Edinburgh. He was an

Episcopalian Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protes ...

and

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

of the

Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway The Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway is one of the seven dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church. It covers Dumfries and Galloway, Ayrshire, Lanarkshire (including Glasgow), Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire and west Stirlingshire (south of the Ri ...

. He had been Deputy Chairman of the

Boundary Commission for Scotland In the United Kingdom, the boundary commissions are non-departmental public bodies responsible for determining the boundaries of Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, parliamentary constituencies for elections to the House of Co ...

and a member of the Scottish Civil Courts Review since 2007. He died at the age of 80 on 30 December 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McEwan, Robin 1943 births 2023 deaths Scottish Episcopalians People educated at Paisley Grammar School Alumni of the University of Glasgow Lawyers from Paisley, Renfrewshire Members of the Faculty of Advocates

Mcewan MacEwen, MacEwan, McEwen, or McEwan may refer to: People * MacEwen (surname) Places *Castle MacEwen, Argyll, Scotland *MacEwan, Edmonton, a neighbourhood in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada * MacEwan Glen, a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta, Canada ...

Scottish King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel