William Alexander Hunter (8 May 184421 July 1898) 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 ...

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

and

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

politician. Hunter was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, the son of James Hunter, a granite merchant, of Aberdeen. He was educated at Aberdeen grammar school and

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

. He entered the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

, and was called to the English bar in 1867, but then was occupied mainly with teaching. In 1869 he was appointed professor of

Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the ''Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...

at University College, London, and in 1878 professor of

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

, resigning that chair in 1882.Debretts Guide to the House of Commons 1886
/ref> Hunter's name became well known during this period as the author of a standard work on Roman law, ''Roman Law in the Order of a Code'', together with a smaller introductory volume for students, ''Introduction to Roman Law''. After 1882 Hunter took up politics and was elected to parliament for Aberdeen North as a Liberal at the 1885 general election. In the House of Commons he was a prominent supporter of

Charles Bradlaugh Charles Bradlaugh (; 26 September 1833 – 30 January 1891) was an English political activist and atheist. He founded the National Secular Society in 1866, 15 years after George Holyoake had coined the term "secularism" in 1851. In 1880, Brad ...

; he was the first to advocate

old age Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...

pensions A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

, and in 1890 carried a proposal to free elementary

education in Scotland Education in Scotland is overseen by the Scottish Government and its executive agency Education Scotland. Education in Scotland has a history of universal provision of public education, and the Scottish education system is distinctly differe ...

. In 1895 his health broke down; he resigned his seat in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

on 24 April 1896 by taking the Chiltern Hundreds.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, William Alexander 1844 births 1898 deaths Anglo-Scots Academics of University College London English barristers Members of the Middle Temple Scottish Liberal Party MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Aberdeen constituencies Scottish non-fiction writers Scottish scholars and academics Alumni of the University of Aberdeen People educated at Aberdeen Grammar School UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 Politicians from Aberdeen